I’ll start with the bad crap… and end on a happy note…
here we go…..
It started off real good this trip I had planned… until I got to the airport… my flight was supposed to leave at 1:30, so I was there at 12:30… then was informed that my flight was delayed about an hour…. then that turned into our flight left at 4:45.. which caused me to miss my connecting flight to Erie.. which was the last one… so I was re-routed…. And instead of my brother and his friends picking me up, I had to get a ride from a different airport to the arena
Let me explain how this trip started off going down hill….
I get through security with no problems and I’m at the airport an hour early.. then I decide to go ahead and get a bottle of water to have with my lunch that I packed… so i walk over to one of those food places and get a bottle of water and take it up to the counter… and this boy behind the counter is smiling all goofy and asks if I’m from Texas…. I refrained from asking him if he was from africa.. but, I was in a good mood, so I told him.. why yes, indeed I was all the way here from Texas.. ON my way to Pennsylvania.. and walked away…. I then am sitting in the terminal waiting…. and I hear an announcement about our plane is delayed leaving Philly and we’d not be on time, but, any connecting flights leaving after 4 will be ok…….. So I’m still good….
This is where I’m sitting there.. minding my own business.. and shit started happening….
I open up my sandwich and get out my grapes and started eating…. the guy next to me asks if I’m embarrassed to wear my hat.. I said “no why?” and he replied with “no one else is wearing one” I looked at him and explained I didn’t give a shit about what everyone else was doing…
Then a few minutes later he asks if I had running water and electricity in my house…. I looked at him and with the worst redneck accent I could muster up I said why “golly gee mister I just found out they made toilet paper so now I don’t have to use corn cobs on my ass anymore” so he thought that was funny…. and I said.. all y’all north of bristol people are just weird… and took a big bite of my sandwich and looked away….
Soooo. I decide to scroll through my pictures on my phone.. and I got to a picture of Cocaine and I and this jerk sitting next to me says… “oh you look fat in that picture”.. I jerked my head around and gave him the ‘eat shit and die look’ and he says.. maybe it’s the pants… So, I said.. where the hell are you from anyways? and he explains he was from Hershey… I told him “Oh that explains why you are a fat F*****, maybe you should stop visiting the chocolate park and eat a salad….” so now I’m pissed…
so then this Indian girl sitting on the other side of me sneezed… and he leans over to me and says.. “your supposed to say bless you” I told him that some people find it offensive.. and he made this whole situation all awkward.. that was about all out of the pennsylvania suffering from cranial rectalitis..
So, while i was waiting in line at the ticket booth to find out that my flight was never going to happen… some jerkface in a suit told me that he liked my outfit… so I told him “thanks.. I dressed up early for Halloween”… I mean really people… sometimes… the public is just nuttier than a porta potty at a peanut festival… and that Some days just makes me Madder than a bobcat caught in a piss fire..
But, everything was great when I got picked up at the airport… and everything was still awesome about 2 stages into the Match… I smoked my class by 2 seconds on the first stage and about 3 on the next one… and I was making new friends… and having a damn good time…. and Gracie and I made a rollback…. and there is where the situation went south…. something happened in her rear end.. and we hit a barrel.. and I knew something had happened…. she was 3 legged lame, toe walking on her right rear… I came out of that arena.. and felt just sick to my stomach… I tried to pick her foot up and she about fell over… then I really felt like I was going to puke..
so, I got on Tattoo and tried to run the last stage of the day.. and what happened……
we blew up.. like t-totally messed up.. and it was all my fault.. either, he felt my panic inside along with the fact I sent that horse in the arena like a wild woman running from the law.. and it all come undone.. people were yelling crap to me from the side lines.. and this is not one of my professional finer moments.. but, a whole line of beep beep beeps came out along with shut the eff up.. and I screamed at him to calm down and we gained composure… not before I wasn’t so sure that he wasn’t going to buck me off and leave me in the ground… but, we tried it again and recovered from it… and I got off of him…
and felt the overwhelming fact that… in 4 days.. I was supposed to be in Texas… riding the horse that I have been working on and falling in love with for weeks….. and she’s lame…. and I can’t ride Tattoo…
and it is the world championships…… I got back to the stall with Gracie and just started crying…
like bad crying.. I felt so horrible that she was hurt… and I’ll tell you what… she was happy… she was a completely different horse from when I first got on her in September…. she was happy, excited, had a purpose and she felt excited to have a job again and pampered on and doted over…
I didn’t want her to have to make the trip to Texas and I was trapped because we were 14 hours away from home.. and I had no idea what to do….
So I drowned my sorrows in a sicilian pie, half a stromboli, calamari fritti and a cannoli….
Now for the good….
My brother’s best friend in High school Lives in Erie… and he married his high school sweetheart.. and I have not seen either one of them since I was a snot nosed little brat about 22-23 years ago..
My brother was up there visiting and they drove over to the arena, pitched a tent up brought a case of this beer called straub (which is brewed in St. Mary’s with spring water) and came over to visit with me…. It was a very happy reunion and I am so happy to have seen them.. they actually are exactly as I remember them to be… we had a blast catching up 🙂
I have the best parents in the world… My dad heard what happened and offered to bring Maggie and meet me somewhere… So we decided after looking at maps, that we’d meet in Virginia around Roanoke… and then we decided I’d just skip my flight… and drive back with the transporter, and meet my parents in Virginia… Put Gracie on that trailer and put Maggie on the trailer going to Texas and then I’d drive back with my parents to South Carolina….
In our travels towards Virginia… we had to go through West Virginia on some country back road to cut across to 81.. and we stopped at this truck stop…
Well, we roll up in there, and this boy.. no more than about 16, seats us in a booth…
This place looks like it hasn’t been renovated since 1960….well, he took one looks and us.. and he says.. “I like your hats” I can tell this was going downhill fast… then the kid says.. “my pappy had one” I smiled and said “that’s great”. then he proceeds to explain that he had one, one time.. and he thought it was the thing to do.. because his pappy always wore one.. but, his kept flopping all over his head.. So I said “did you not have the right size?” and he said with a puzzled look “they come in sizes?” I said “yes, indeed they do” and he said.. “oh the hat I have on is self sizing” then proceeds to take it off his head and show us the elastic in it…. I smiled and said “isn’t that nice”…
holy crap… then as we are sitting there waiting on our food…. this same boy goes over to this other table and tells them that his wife is pregnant… and asks how old their baby is.. and then asks the guy sitting with the baby in his arms.. if he was the daddy…..
I’m telling you.. you just can’t make this crap up.. West Virginia is kinda scary…
I’m home today.. and I’ve diligently worked on getting Gracie a appointment at the hospital in lexington, KY… this place is who treats the USA olympic equines…. so, I can get some answers there.. and they are not ridiculously expensive… which was encouraging…
I have also had time to think, that Maggie did get me where I am today… and Maybe her 2 months off have revived her.. and Maybe it is her turn to shine and win the worlds…
I’m trying to be optimistic… I love Maggie I truly do… but, Gracie has more heart and dedication to her job than Maggie does.. But, I trust Maggie to do the right thing and take care of me… and it’s all in God’s hands… I’m just blessed that I had that time with Gracie… and I’m blessed to have Maggie injury free… we will see how it goes… I love them both in very different ways…