the story of the walkabout pony

when i laid down to sleep last friday night, i was EXHAUSTED. it took half a second to collapse into the feather bed, under the down, and disappear from existence.

the day consisted of a 4 am wake up call, a 4 hour drive, a brilliant 4 hour ride with the wedding chicks, a 4 minute rehearsal, and a scrumptious 4-kinds-of-pizza rehearsal dinner. oh, and a 4 pound piece of triple chocolate raspberry cake. can't forget that.



the 4 am wake up call and the 4 hour ride kind of did me in. well, not the 4 hours of riding specifically, but: most notably, during the 4 hour ride, my pony and i had a moment.



pony and i rarely get chances to hit straight-line choss at any impressive pitch. last friday, we did. and straight out of the gate, i had one interest: FLY!!! no interest in brakes. no interest in thought. just GO. that was a mistake.

about half way down, i found myself pinned to the earth, pony on top, rocks underneath. no clue what happened. the pony bucked. i ate crow. DOH.

that hurt the skull. the back and hip. and my right arm. (the ego, for sure). but all was well. no blood. just deep bruises, and a really, really odd sense of confusion.

pony didn't feel right. and i had subsequently yakked poor all afternoon and evening about questioning the size of my dear pony, and therefore the match of our dance. bad mouth jeny.



anyway.

lying down to sleep friday night, in that half of a second of remaining consciousness, i had a brief thought: unlock pony, bring her in, and don't make her stay on top of the car all night. and then i was GONE.

5 am wake up call! 530 out of the shower. i'm standing in the living room, towel on head. tip-toeing thru the dark house. and i stop to gaze out the window at the ponies outside.

and pony ... dear pony... my god, she was GONE.



i'm not kidding. ed's pony was locked and loaded on the car, and my pony... my pony was nowhere to be seen.

disappointment could not describe the black mood that descended upon ed and i. our spirits broken. the magic stolen.

but alas ... i had a bride to prepare, and a wedding to attend and celebrate! on with the dress! off with the mood. and out the door to Ez.

as noted, the wedding was heaven incarnate!!!

on the way back to the house from the wedding venue, we flagged down the marshall to ask him where, exactly, to file a missing pony report. he was sweet, and took us to the house, where he was going to take the statement there.



as we rounded the corner, parking the massive police SUV, i spied smack dab in the middle of the yard: my pony; blatantly HUCKED over a fence and a picnic table, strewn about in the grass and dug down into the dirt: Pony. Pony got hucked over a fence. but Pony was BACK.

and in good time, too, because the wedding sweet roll was only an hour away, and, well, i needed my pony to dance.

and off we went! and i have to say: pony and i had one long ride of a brilliant dancing moment. the connection made, the dance balanced. we were, actually for the first time, finally together.



and that made me rethink all my bad yakkity from the day before. and it made me think that maybe someone didn't actually STEAL her (and break/ruin my rack lock in the process), but that she needed to go walkabout a bit and ... let me get my head on straight.

thank you universe, for pony. i don't know what i would do without her.



jj