Super Glue

Very few people realize how close I came to closing down my horse operation last spring. From day one of the program I have had students and parents who have gone way beyond the call of duty in helping out with everything from building fence to training horses. I take great pride in the sense of ownership that that participation has given them.

For the day in day out work of keeping everything going I initially relied on my daughters who are now grown,married and gone. Daddy has always been the backbone of the physical work and caring for sick horses that we needed. Having Brent, an actual ranch hand and rodeo rider, around took a tremendous load off of me.

Losing Lido wrecked me and my program to a degree that neither will ever fully recover.

The word "blessing" gets over used but my riders, my horses and I have been blessed in recent months by the participation of Emily and Abbie in our program and our lives. They can do all of the things with the horses that I simply do not have time to do and, best of all, they do it better than I would.

They also provide something that all youth oriented programs need that I could not provide. They are perfect role models for little girls. They do not teach confidence, humility, generosity, and kindness. Instead they demonstrate these virtues in a world in which none of these virtues are demonstrated by the role models of popular culture. My little riders talk to me and I know how much they adore Emily and Abbie and how much they want to be "just like them" when they grow up.

They redefine "cool" for my smallest riders. When they take the stage singing old time and gospel music with us they take the "coolness" right out the teen girls that they see writhing around on tv singing songs that, at their best are meaningless, and more typically are malignant.

On a personal level, I have not seen my wife as happy as she is when we all set down to dinner since my daughters were kids at home. They have provided affection, discipline, consistency, and stability to my little granddaughter, who chatters about her "Uncle Emily" and her Abbie.

Although I have been a Sunday School teacher for over 25 years I consider one's religious beliefs to be a private matter and I am never comfortable seeking to foist my beliefs on to others. And I hesitate to do so now. But, the simple reality is that, since Lido died, God and I have been disappointing one another. The hours that I have spent discussing the role of God in one's life with Emily have provided more insight to me than did my four years of the study of religion at William and Mary.

Yes, I nearly ended my program last spring when its operation became overwhelming. That will not happen now. When I needed glue God sent me super glue.