A Glorious Morning and a Whole Lot of Inspiration
It’s been extra rainy and oh-so-cool the past few days.
Monday night, we watched as the first storm blew in, heavy and dark. Ponderosa sat between the curtains and the front window, her little nose pressed against the glass as the first drops fell and thunder rolled.
And then, it hailed.
We had just put some lilacs in the ground earlier that afternoon, along with a trio of fruit trees (which I promise to share later, along with the reveal of our front yard…). After what happened last year I spent those minutes in pure agony - but, in the end, the hail stones stayed small and no damage was done. All of our plants made it through unharmed and I’ve made a BIG mental note to get some hail protection in place ASAP.
But now - the real reason I had to sit down and write. Despite the grayness of the sky, and the fact that the sun has stayed hidden since that first Monday storm, I’ve just had the most glorious morning.
It started with a walk with Ponderosa. She is such a little tugboat, and has pulled us down the sidewalk since the first day we clipped a leash to her harness. Being friendly didn’t fix the problem, being firm didn’t work, and for the longest time food wasn’t even a big motivator for her. But back in March she pulled a muscle from all that tugging - and since then I’ve been trying everything and anything to change this habit.
And today - TODAY - she finally turned a metaphorical corner. I had to reward her with a little piece of sliced turkey every couple of steps, but we walked past dogs and bikes and the neighborhood school during morning drop-off. And apart from a few tugs here and there, she stayed with me. Oh, I’m so over-the-moon! She’s a stubborn one, that pup - but that makes the successes all the more wonderful.
After walking, I went down to see Cirrus. All the rain and last week’s melted snow have turned the barn to mud - so I turned him loose in the indoor arena so he could spend some time on dry ground.
In the past, Cirrus has hated the indoor. He is spooky and nervous and generally ready to bolt at any noise - but not today. Today he ran around joyfully, bucking and playing, and circled back to check in on me again and again.
(You’ll want to watch till the end of this haha!).
At one point, I walked down to the far end (aka, the SCARY end) of the arena and just crouched down low to watch his shenanigans. Cirrus cantered a couple of circles by the gate, then noticed me and headed my direction at a full gallop. My instinct was to stand up, to get big, just in case. But I’m trying to trust him more. To recognize that the only way he can take care of me, too, is if I let him. So I stayed low - ready to stand if needed, but trying to simply trust.
And as he ran towards me, my beautiful, wild unicorn flowed from a gallop to a walk and lowered his nose right to my chest with a sigh. Oh, you can bet your boots there were some tears. We’ve been working so hard in our lessons and in our sessions together to build our confidence in each other as a team, and I saw today just how far we’ve really come.
As I drove home, my heart full-up, I ended up tying together a few threads of thought that have been lying loose and wayward in my mind for years. Maybe it was the trust Ponderosa put in me, or the trust I put in Cirrus. Maybe it was the thousands of petals on the wind or the humid air or the rain-laden clouds that all sing of spring and hint at the summer to come. But I started thinking about all of the cycles that inform my work and my life and a hundred pieces fell into place all at once.
I’ve already filled two sketchbook pages and I feel there’s more to come before I can even begin to create something new. I see leather and silver and paint and words (more words!) in my future. Taking the few minutes to write all this, to chronicle this burst of inspiration, was necessary - but now, pencil and paper are calling…hopefully, I’ll have more to share soon!