Riding In A Different Direction

Theodore Roosevelt lost both his wife and his mother on the same day. The remainder of his life was an extension of that shock and grief. He viewed the darkness that fell upon him as what he termed "black care." He was succinct in how he dealt with the pain.

 “Black care rarely sits behind a rider whose pace is fast enough,” as he later phrased it. 

 I have always found that to be the soundest of advice. I viewed the hardest and longest ride as the best ride. In fact, at times, I felt it to be the only ride worth saddling up for.

But life changes and we change with it--at times we even change for the better. I am learning things in my sixties that I wish I could have understood in my forties. One of the things that I am learning is that riding to things can be as important as riding from things. 

After Abigail finished getting Sparrow Hawk safe enough for Terry to ride she put in many hours getting Taney Town safe for me to ride. I plan to put the next two months into getting the Marsh Tacky mare used to me.

I am in better shape than I have been in twenty years. I will keep getting stronger on the ground and in the saddle. I am not yet who I will be and I am not who I was. Each morning it seems that I am introduced to a newer person wearing my shoes and lately every time I mount up a newer person sits on that saddle.