Life Passing By....

Tonight, My beautiful daughter went off to prom. While she is obviously beautiful outside(see the picture), let me give you a glimpse inside. It is a hard economic time for this family and we shopped for a dress that we could afford. She finally picked a dress under $50.00. While her friends had hair and make up done by professionals, she did her own. She didn't complain.....no, she did the coolest hair do you could imagine. I doubt those girls going to the salon got anything nearly so cool. She did her own makeup and it looked great. Instead of asking for money for a limo, she drove her Dad's old pick-up truck!!

I don't know if she really knows it, but she has the creativity to do things far better than just going to a store and paying enormously for some flash in the pan prom du jour dress. She comes up the the best hair styles. It might be really fun to be able to go to the salon and have someone pamper you and get a great do.....but, I really admire what she does and the flair with which she does it. How can it be that she is my daughter? While her father certainly has his talents, I doubt she gets these from him either.

This night, this event helped us to realize just how utterly amazing she's turning out. I'm sure I don't deserve it.

Lenten Lessons

Today started out as any day would. The sun is shinning beautifully. That always starts the day off right. I arrive at work to the usual set of tasks awaiting my attention. I start to tackle one thing at a time and as the day goes along I see mistakes that I've made. My teenagers are around being typical teenagers, wanting help with their needs, while office needs are screaming for my attention. A bad economy and financial pressures bend me towards work while my heart wants to be at home cleaning and spending time with the kids. As these thoughts all compete for my attention the inventory of all things needed to be done or neglected start to take shape in my head. Pressure, pressure, pressure. I want MY Mom! I want to be able to drive to western Kentucky and pull into their driveway and just unburden my heart to two people that I know would listen and care. I feel alone and overwhelmed. There is a big weight on my shoulders that seemed to appear from nowhere. I was okay earlier. Where did all of this come from.

Tonight I went to mass. I didn't really want to go. My heart wasn't in it, but I went and prayed to be a better person. One who didn't sit and feel sorry for herself, one who truly appreciated the sacrifice of this season. I sat there in that pew and thought, I don't even get this. I am so far from where I need to be, how did this happen? And then, it occurred to me that they were taking Jesus away today. Perhaps on some innate level, I started feeling the weight of this world today and did so by thinking of handling it on MY OWN. How alone and hopeless things seem on our own power. Perhaps I was given a lesson, a gift, a reminder......Thanks be to God.

Exit 98

A page came through about 8 pm one recent evening. It was a frantic lady and her mom are traveling from Louisianna to Kentucky with a thoroghbred mare and colt in tow. She was being taken to a breeding farm in Lexington. The colt was less than 30 days old. The mare's name was Lilliet. She was a big beautiful bay mare. The frantic owner was calling from a Shell station on exit 98 off of interstate 65 near Nashville. Lilliet had been down and trying to roll for quite some time. She was sweating profusely with pain. A horse's eyes can be so telling and hers seemed to plead for help.
We fly into the Shell station and instantly see the trailer off to the side with a small group of folks standing there. Horsedoc gets out and takes a quick look, tries to get her up and runs to the truck to get pain killers. He gives her the shot iv and he gets her up. She seems to get some instant relief. He starts examing her and questions the owners about her hay and grain, bowel movements, water intake, etc. She had been given some rich alfalfa hay when leaving Louisianna. She hadn't been getting that rich of hay and had gassed up. This can be so dangerous because a horse who rolls can cause some of their very long colon to twist which if not treated, surgically, quickly can result in death. While she had been rolling, she had caused all of the shavings in the trailer to be piled high on each side with very few in the middle. Horsedoc was so busy with Mom, that he hadn't noticed the baby who had climbed onto this huge pile of shavings and twisted his neck in an awkward position to be able to nurse Mom. No matter that we are at a busy gas station, off a busy interstate, with all sorts of bystanders watching and all sorts of strangers in the trailer working on Mom, Little Man is having a snack. Make hay when the sun shines, right? This little guy is a survivor. When we all noticed, it was a great moment to break the fear and tension of the situation.
Horsedoc got Mom stable and the owners considered taking her to his clinic. He decided that if she was insured and would be a surgical candidate that they should keep moving as long as she was stable. Lillet begins passing gas!! If you're a horsey person, you know what a blessing that is. Everyone cheers and the rich hay is sifted out of the shavings and thrown over the fence off of exit 98. There are 2 older men there who have been there all along to offer moral support, if nothing else. They are small in stature but big in heart. They are clearly worried about these two ladies. As we pack these ladies up to leave with more pain meds, the men decide to leave. The younger lady's mom grabs them both in a bear hug to thank them. She thanks us over and over again. She writes a check for the bill and gives us a credit card number just so we don't worry about the check, even though we don't ask for it.
This is the nice side of this life. A really good memory. Really kind, loving people. People who appreciate your work and sacrifice. Lilliet got really painful again and was taken in for surgery. When we last heard, she had survived the surgery and gotten up fine. If in a few years there is a derby favorite named Trip, put a few dollars on him. I think he'll be a winner.