Blog/Journal

What excited you today?

What excited you today? 


I spent the day with my eternally grouchy daughter.  It seemed that the moment that she woke up she was irritated about something.  We went on a quest to find her the items she would need for the Miss Interstate Rodeo Queen competition tomorrow.  She just needed to acquire the finishing touches to her outfits and a flag boot.  She was almost in tears the other night as she told me she felt like I didn’t care about her contest.  I was sad when I had to explain that it wasn’t that I didn’t care, it was simply that I had never been a part of anything like this so I had no idea how to support her or what she needed. When she said she would like me to go shopping with her I told her I would love to.


But anyone who knows me knows that this was torture for me.  I hate shopping more than I hate getting work done on my teeth.  It is necessary but I avoid it at all cost.  To my surprise I actually enjoyed the day.  Her grumpiness was at a minimum and we accomplished a lot in a short time.  We also had little Isabel with us and when I said we had to stop to get some milk and other groceries she said, “But I am tired, and grumpy and I want to go home.”  She then leaned her head on the door and fell asleep.  This was an unusual moment for her as she normally runs a million miles a minute. 


We returned home where Isabel took a healthy nap and Elizabeth and I went to the barnyard to set up an impromptu wash stall in a horse trailer; heated, of course, by heat lights and insulated by blue tarps.  We washed a white horse in the dead of winter so she could go and compete for a title that will keep her eternally busy but give her a sense of accomplishment that will pale to most things in her life up to now. 


I am excited for my daughter’s future.  Whether she wins this competition or not I think that she has the ability to excel in life.  She is strong, motivated and determined.  She just needs her mom to believe in her dreams and take a little splash of soapy horse water in the face from time to time.  I love her but I found that washing a horse with my daughter was a lot like washing a horse (or a goat or a dog or…) with my best friend when I was young.  That is a treasure worth being excited about and one worth holding onto.


 


Write on!