A Phone Call that Changed Everything...

It was on this date ten years ago that I received what would turn out to be a very important phone call.

Christmas was over, all the presents unwrapped and food devoured.  I was home alone while my parents were out to dinner when the landline rang.  It was my trainer.  She called to tell me about a horse that was in the barn on trial.

Earlier that year, my parents had finally decided that the time and circumstances were right for me to have my first horse. So, we embarked on a journey to find a horse that fit my dad's requirements (both temperament and height) as well as our budget.

 Horses were tried and I became so desperate to have a horse that I could be heard saying after each trial, "I liked that one.  We should get him.  Please?" I said this even after riding a horse that tried, painfully, to scrape me off on a post.  Such was my desire to have a horse to call my own.

So, it was with eager attentiveness that I listened to my trainer's description of the horse.  He was in the barn on trial for another rider who was also looking.  She had decided that she didn't like him and my trainer thought maybe we would like to see him while he was still there.  He was a bit of a diamond in the rough, she said, but he had potential.  More importantly, he was quiet, tall, and in our budget.

His trial was almost up, so if we were interested we would have to look at him quickly and decide even more quickly.  I promised that I would tell my parents about it as soon as they got back.  As soon as I hung up the phone with my trainer, I squirmed and jigged around the house in excitement.

 If my parents had possessed a cell phone at the time you can bet I would have called them straight away.  However, they did not so I had to content myself to wait anxiously, hoping and praying that this horse, would finally be the one that would be my horse.  I swear a dinner never took so long as the one my parents ate that night.

We did go to see this horse and he was everything we wanted and more, but that's a different story.  This story is about a phone call, one that I still think of every December 28th.  Sometimes, one simple little phone call can change everything.

Merry Christmas!

For everyone who celebrates and everyone who doesn't, I hope today is filled with family, friends, love and good times.

 I hope today is a wonderful escape from our hectic day-to-day lives and that we are able to remember the things that are really important to us.

I hope that if you asked for a pony for Christmas, you got a pony.  If not, I hope your pony comes along real soon.

I hope you have fun and enjoy whatever it is you're doing today.

 My Christmas Pony many years ago...

Merry Christmas!