It's a boy!!

We met him when he was just 3 years old.  That was 12 years ago.  I fell in love with his sweet eyes.  He reminded me so much of my youngest daughter in attitude and perseverance. I loved to watch him learn and more so watching how he and my daughter learned to navigate the world together. We spent almost every weekend together for years.  I found it calming to brush his hair. We shared snow cones and secrets.  I comforted him when my daughter and he didn't see eye to eye.  I scolded him with a stern voice when he was misbehaving.  I loved watching his sweet gentleness increase as he grew though he always kept his attitude of pushing the boundaries of behavior to get his way.  

When my daughter left for university in 2018, I was worried that the separation would be too much and that we would not see him again.  My daughter tried to keep the relationship going, but it hurt her heart to continually say goodbye not know the future.  Growing up is hard, but saying good bye is harder. Their time together grew less and less over the 5 years.  Seeing him became awkward and painful.  We left the door open for a reunion never knowing if it would happen. We had to let him go and hope that someday he would come back into our lives. My daughter got the call in September of 2024.

My daughter's horse trainer and the owner of Troubadour, the white quarter horse, that she began riding in middle school, was calling.  He offered to sell her Troubadour.  She was elated and I could hear the excitement and shock in her voice when she called to share the news with us.  For some reason, she thought she was going to have to convince us.  There was no convincing needed.  He was family.  Yes, there were details to work out with her finishing her Master's Degree at The Ohio State University and he was at a local barn near our home 2 1/2 hours away.  We worked it out.  She would come home as often as she could and my husband and I would take over the duties of cleaning his stall and taking turns to feed and putting the barn full of horses out to pasture on Saturdays.  How does it work financially?  Our daughter opted to forgo her college graduation trip for the love of her horse, Troubadour.

I am thrilled to see their relationship continue after an educational hiatus.  I am still surprised how surprised she was when we said "Yes" to her owning Troubadour.  We usually discuss a pros and cons list (that's my thing).  But with this decision there was no decision, only truth and love.  We welcomed him home with open arms, carrots and muck buckets.