I Am Very Proud Of Kayla

I said that I was proud, didn't say that I was sure about how she spells her name. She is small, young, and very shy. She has become a good rider. However, performing on stage comes abut as naturally to her as hosting a wine tasting would be for me. She is becoming my bodhran player. A bodhran is an ancient Irish drum that has never become tremendously popular in American music. I love it because it serves much the same purpose as a bass guitar in keeping the kids together while playing.

Of course, if the bodhran is off time everything is off time. In that degree it is the most important instrument on stage. It is ironic that when it is perfectly played it might not be noticed by the audience but when played off time a song about a train wreck will simply become a train wreck.

And I must admit that I like a bodhran because it is unusual. I am not drawn to the bland and the ordinary. Nor am I drawn to those who have it easy. I am impressed by those, human and animal, that over come things, instead of having everything fall sweetly into their hands. I do not resent those who achieve without struggle. It is just that I reserve my deepest admiration for those that work and fight for what they get.

War Admiral, my three legged Baylis Spanish goat jumps fences and can jump into my truck. He does not have my pity. He has my admiration. One eyed horses that run off coyotes who menace foals, horses crippled with founder who come back to be ridden further than the distance from Norfolk to Dallas in a year,and, of course, a boy with cerebral palsy who was the first rider for many of my wild mustangs--these are my heroes.

Kayla is my hero too. Those who do not understand stage fright cannot fathom the courage she shows when she plays and smiles.

I am becoming very proud of her.