"Horses teach humans." Pat Parelli
This is an understatement at best. I've had my horse, Tronie, for three years and sha-zam, oh my gosh, what he's taught me! In fact Dec. 4, 2011, was our third anniversary together and Tronie has proven to be a super teacher. He has also proven that you can teach an old dog (me) new tricks. Here are just a few of the lessons I've learned from Tronie: PATIENCE, being a teacher, I've always thought I had lots of patience, but I've learned patience on a new level. He has taught me the essence of nature and to always trust it. He has taught me that in order to open my heart, my mind has to be balanced. He's taught me that freedom demands inner authority, not outer. He has taught me that getting outside my comfort zone is a gift I give myself. He has taught me the value of living moment to moment in authenticity. He has taught me that indeed the lion can lie down with the lamb. Sometimes I wish he could sit in my lap, I love him so, and he's 16.3 hands and probably close to 1200 lbs.,but he is willing to let me hug him. Horses are indeed nature in its finest form.
"Nostalgia: A device that removes the ruts and potholes from memory lane." Doug Larson
September 26-30, 2011, was a very special week in my life. I've thought about it for two weeks now and no matter which way I look at it, it was THE perfect week. I'm not sure I've ever experienced five consecutive days that were perfect...until these five. I was flown to Texarkana, Texas, by an organization called WFA (Women For the Arts) where I was to be keynote speaker for their annual membership luncheon. After a perfect flight, I was whisked from the airport by a friend I grew up with who informed me we were meeting the current and past presidents of WFA for dinner for they wanted to meet me and talk about the upcoming luncheon, BUT we had a couple hours so what would I like to do. I told her I'd like to see the house I grew up in. Yes, I was born and raised in Texarkana, a beautiful east Texas small city. As soon as Peggy turned off the engine, we sat staring at the front of the house, each of us filling with memories of the past which spilled from us both. "Do you remember when we.....?"
"I played with my dolls on that porch. I wonder if the inside would look the same to me as an adult."
"Your mother used to give us popcicles on that porch." and on and on we went. We walked to the front door and rang the bell. After introducing myself and my friend, I asked the lady who answered the door if I could come in to see the house where I spent so many years. (Would you open your home to a stranger just because she said she was raised there?)
"Sure," she says as she swings wide the door to the living room. The moment I stepped inside, visions filled my head. I could see our Christmas tree in the corner and my extended family opening presents. I could see my father taking a picture of me and my date to the 8th grade banquet while mother looked on beaming at my dress which she had sewn just for the occasion. At the other side of the room was a table in just the spot ours was. I saw my grandmother and grandad standing behind it as they did on their 50th wedding anniversary celebration. My heart and head were full as we walked through the house, and scenes came to life. I was not expecting the vastness of this experience. My room was just as I remembered it...small. I moved from this house when I was 14. I returned to it last month at age 62. We went on to meet the WFA presidents over a scrumptious meal at Timothy's. Since the ladies had read my book, our visit was like old home week. All this in the first 5 hours of my week.
I'm realizing I cannot describe this perfect week in the space of a blog. Just know that every day seemed to outdo the day before. Staying with my childhood friend was great fun, not to mention where she had me sleep...in the pool house, nestled in a rain forest of sorts and near a waterfall. I "ran into" people I hadn't seen since 5th grade! These encounters happened all week and in the most unusual and unpredictable circumstances. I spoke at three different organizational luncheons and had one TV interview. Everything and more fell into place. As I write, I'm not at all sure this week was real. Everything was planned for me. I was treated royally. I did nothing but speak. It was too perfect, too nostalgic, too unbelievable, too...did I say perfect?
If one can judge the future by the past, my future will be perfect.
"I played with my dolls on that porch. I wonder if the inside would look the same to me as an adult."
"Your mother used to give us popcicles on that porch." and on and on we went. We walked to the front door and rang the bell. After introducing myself and my friend, I asked the lady who answered the door if I could come in to see the house where I spent so many years. (Would you open your home to a stranger just because she said she was raised there?)
"Sure," she says as she swings wide the door to the living room. The moment I stepped inside, visions filled my head. I could see our Christmas tree in the corner and my extended family opening presents. I could see my father taking a picture of me and my date to the 8th grade banquet while mother looked on beaming at my dress which she had sewn just for the occasion. At the other side of the room was a table in just the spot ours was. I saw my grandmother and grandad standing behind it as they did on their 50th wedding anniversary celebration. My heart and head were full as we walked through the house, and scenes came to life. I was not expecting the vastness of this experience. My room was just as I remembered it...small. I moved from this house when I was 14. I returned to it last month at age 62. We went on to meet the WFA presidents over a scrumptious meal at Timothy's. Since the ladies had read my book, our visit was like old home week. All this in the first 5 hours of my week.
I'm realizing I cannot describe this perfect week in the space of a blog. Just know that every day seemed to outdo the day before. Staying with my childhood friend was great fun, not to mention where she had me sleep...in the pool house, nestled in a rain forest of sorts and near a waterfall. I "ran into" people I hadn't seen since 5th grade! These encounters happened all week and in the most unusual and unpredictable circumstances. I spoke at three different organizational luncheons and had one TV interview. Everything and more fell into place. As I write, I'm not at all sure this week was real. Everything was planned for me. I was treated royally. I did nothing but speak. It was too perfect, too nostalgic, too unbelievable, too...did I say perfect?
If one can judge the future by the past, my future will be perfect.
Change is Good.
After spending two months at the Parelli ranch in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, with my horse Tronie, change has taken place in both of us. The Parelli experience is all encompassing. Horses are the ultimate prey animals and humans...the ultimate predators. Put the two together and you have the most rewarding combination or the most heart breaking. Horses are perceptive to danger, people, places, changes, and things. People are task oriented, direct line thinkers, chauvinistic, and autocratic. In the Parelli program, the first law is: put the relationship first. Horses already know how to do everything. The Parelli training is for us humans. As Pat Parelli says, "There is nothing you can't do when your horse becomes a part of you." Horses are the ultimate spiritual being as well. They are tuned into all energy. If you are having a bad day and trying to hide it, they know and respond to you with this understanding. In Parelli land, the horse can do no wrong. It is the human that evokes a positive or negative response in the horse. We learn much about ourselves when we approach this unusual relationship with these filters. In my August class, one of Pat Parelli's proteges, Ryan Rose, was the lead instructor. He focused us on the importance of our connection with our horses. If we are connected, the horse and I, only subtle communication is necessary. How do you get a prey animal to connect to a predator? Answer: Think like that prey animal and respond accordingly. Can you think like a horse? I am learning, and the rewards are immense.
Photo compliments of Mackenzie Kincaid. Thank you, Mackenzie.
Photo compliments of Mackenzie Kincaid. Thank you, Mackenzie.
Change
Change is difficult when it's someone else's idea. iUniverse put Two Nuts in Italy into their Star program and with this honor came some changes. I had to sign a two year contract saying they had sole rights to publish the book during this time. The hand-off is that iUniverse will expose the book to B&N corporate (no guarantees they will pick it up) and make changes to the cover that they feel will boost marketing. In my humble opinion, the original cover stands out on the shelf. It catches your eye. The new cover is generic and looks pretty much like all the other books on the shelf, but maybe that's the key. I admit I do not know much about marketing, and iUniverse does, so I look forward to watching Two Nuts in Italy's new cover catapult the book onto the best seller list! Change is good.
The Miracle Worker
Once again I am writing about my horse, Tronie. I have called him my therapist, best friend, and partner, and he is indeed, but I realize every day how much more this equine friend of mine really is to me. I think I'm a good teacher, and I am when it comes to helping people overcome their problems in reading and writing, but Tronie is the supreme teacher. Each time I am with him, he manages to teach me something new. I cannot say that about my sessions with my students, for sometimes new material is not what is needed but review, so we review. Tronie will peel back a layer of my emotional onion and cause me to examine it; or he will show me something I did not know about him, but the most exciting find of all is that Tronie is a miracle worker. No matter how tired, disappointed, down, or sick I feel, a trip to Tronie's side cures it all. Just a few days ago I had been sour about something all day and by the end of the day, I actually felt sick at my stomach. Tired and out of sorts, I did not want to go to the stables, but the weather had kept me away for two days, and I felt I needed to go whether we did anything or not. I spent an hour with Tronie just hanging out standing beside him as he grazed, touching him, and talking to him. I left feeling great and having no idea what could have possibly been wrong earlier in the day. I was renewed and felt like I could conquer the world. Horses are used in many physical and psychological rehabilitative settings and little by little I am experiencing first hand why. They are sensitive, intuitive, and in the moment. How grateful I am to have one of these great creatures in my life.
First Time for Everything
From time to time I am invited to speak to groups about my adventure in Italy. This past Thursday was one such day speaking at the beautiful Windsong facility on the campus of Carillon retirement center here in Lubbock. There were about 45-50 people in attendance. I wore a personal microphone so I didn't have to stand behind a podium, could be closer to the audience, and move around a little. I stood before these people for an hour sharing my story with them and answering their questions. I never once gave any thought that everything wasn't perfect until it was all over and for some reason I decided to look down and discovered I had delivered the entire hour with my pants un-zipped!
Technology Overload
You'd think that stretching my comfort zone regularly would prepare me for the grandest stretch of all...tackling the computer to create a website...wrong. Someone else that speaks computer created the original Two Nuts in Italy website but everything was fixed so I couldn't change anything or add to it, so I called my son who recommended I build a site that I could manage on Weebly.com. My son's exact words were, "It's easy, Mom, you just click and drag." What he didn't say is that his generation was born with a techo gene that is missing in my generation, but with his encouragement and example, I confidently go to Weebly.com, play around a little and am instantly overwhelmed. I call Jarrod and tell him it's all over my head, so like a good son, he, living in South Carolina, somehow gets on my computer, which is in Texas, and says, "Just watch your screen." My cursor raced around my screen clicking and dragging so fast that I could hardly keep up with it while Jarrod is saying, "See you can arrange it this way or if you don't like that you can change it to this, or this." When I hung up the phone, I tried some of the fancy things available and got so frustrated I had to turn the computer off and go have a session with my horse who doubles as my therapist.
Plan B - Jenny lives two hours away, so I called her and explaining my plight, asked, no begged her to come to my house and help me. Like the good daughter she is, she drove to Lubbock on her next day off to help. She consulted with Jarrod on the phone and she designed this site and helped me start managing it.
A couple weeks later Jake comes for a visit and put the finishing touches on it like adding the video and tweeking a few of the pages getting the site ready to publish which they all agreed would be a piece of cake. I proudly admired our efforts, practiced deleting and replacing a few things to make sure I could, and pushed the publish button. Click. The screen had the audacity to tell me that something wasn't configured right to publish. Trying desperately to have my first success on the computer in publishing my new website, I fail, call Jarrod and ask if he will do this for me. He did, and here it is, the result of my three techno savvy children. Thank you Jarrod, Jake, and Jenny.
Plan B - Jenny lives two hours away, so I called her and explaining my plight, asked, no begged her to come to my house and help me. Like the good daughter she is, she drove to Lubbock on her next day off to help. She consulted with Jarrod on the phone and she designed this site and helped me start managing it.
A couple weeks later Jake comes for a visit and put the finishing touches on it like adding the video and tweeking a few of the pages getting the site ready to publish which they all agreed would be a piece of cake. I proudly admired our efforts, practiced deleting and replacing a few things to make sure I could, and pushed the publish button. Click. The screen had the audacity to tell me that something wasn't configured right to publish. Trying desperately to have my first success on the computer in publishing my new website, I fail, call Jarrod and ask if he will do this for me. He did, and here it is, the result of my three techno savvy children. Thank you Jarrod, Jake, and Jenny.
