They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
This is one of my favorite family photos. It was taken - obviously - at a horse show, but there was so much more going on than just a horse show.
This was taken the Sunday before Thanksgiving in 1998.
I'll tell the stories starting at the left...
The first guy is my dad. I don't think that he was ready for the picture to be taken. He was a little out of it because he always likes to be the most knowledgeable person wherever he is and he knew nothing about English riding. Which irritated him to no end.
Next is Larry. Three days before he had just returned from a year-long assignment to Saudi Arabia. Two weeks before that he was thrown off a horse and was still pretty bruised and battered and walking was slow. And painful.
Then there is my sister-in-law Sarah. She looks like something is bothering her. Something was. His name would be Travis, but she wouldn't know that for a couple of weeks. She just knew that something was off. And being in a house of coffee drinkers was just something that irritated her.
Right in front of Sarah is Mary. Mary is happy because she did fairly well at the show and was in love with the horse she rode. His name was Doc and he was a sweetie.
Audrey is standing on the other side of Doc. She is less than pleased with life. She had an amazing growth spurt and it had been a couple of months since she'd worn her show clothes. Nothing quite fit and she wasn't as in love with Doc as Mary was. Doc liked to jump really big and a comment from the audience when she did her jump course was "Wow. I bet she could see my house from there!"
My bother Bryan is right behind Audrey. He had run in a 50 mile marathon the day before. Being a fit Army soldier he figured he'd just get in there and do it. He determined at about the 25 mile marker that maybe he should've prepared better. He too was pretty bruised and battered. And walking was slow. And REALLY painful.
And then there is me. I am so happy to have my husband home! And I am happy to have my family visiting! And just a little exhausted - Larry got home on Thursday afternoon, my dad got there Thursday night (Yeah, go figure) Bryan and Sarah showed up Friday afternoon and we had a big welcome home dinner party Friday night. Saturday we messed around at the 50 miler and we got up at zero dark thirty on Sunday for the horse show. Whew.....
Busy weekend. Busy family.
And yes, I miss those days like crazy!!
