Visitation Rights and The Friends We Have

As you all know, (and by "you all", I mean the 3 people that read my blog *wave*) I made the difficult decision to retire my show horse, Bam Bam Rubble. It's been a rough few weeks getting used to Bam not being at the barn.

I went to visit him today and he looks damn happy! I'm so lucky that his new owners said I could come see him any time. I get visitation rights!

It's really helped me be able to let go just knowing that he's somewhere nearby and I can see him. I found him a home where he would be happy and if they ever do have to get rid of him, I get first right of refusal.

My usual Sunday Breakfast Club (another group for whom I am truly thankful - more on my thankfulness in a minute...) decided we should take a little road trip after breakfast to go see him.

Sunday Breakfast Club - not pictured is me
cuz I'm the photographer

He's finally out with the rest of the herd and looks really happy. In fact, he looks so happy that he barely gave us the time of day. Sheesh, Bam Bam, nice to see you, too!

He's already found a new BFF. His name his Parker and apparently, BBR is attached to him like glue. It's pretty cute. And he looks really happy having an entire herd of horses to play with.

Parker with BBR

Could they be any cuter?

It was bitter sweet going to see him today. I'm thrilled that he seems very relaxed and happy but a little sad that he didn't really seem to care that we came to visit. I suppose that's a little like what moms feel when they send their kids off to college and they would rather hang out with their friends than see their parents.

I miss him, but I know I found the right place for him.

In other news, I need to take a minute to really appreciate some of the people in my life. I'm currently trying to scrounge up enough money to buy my possible new show horse. I don't want to jinx anything, so I don't want to blog about him until it's a done deal, but I was telling my friend, JS (I'm not sure how people feel about being named in a blog so I will go with initials), about him and just mentioned that my source of funds was a little rocky and that I wasn't going to get excited about anything until everything was a done deal. She flat out, without any hesitation, offered to loan me the money.

Now, that certainly wasn't my intent when I told her, I just get really leery of counting chickens before they hatch, so I mentioned that until the funds were raised and I had a set of clean x-rays from a pre-purchase exam, I won't let myself get too excited (much to the dismay of my trainer who is jumping out of her skin with excitement at the idea of me owning this horse.)

And I would be really remiss if I didn't mention my friend, DP, who has listened to me whine and cry about various things in my life for the last few months - including some serious heartbreak.

She's also been a huge supporter of my running. Not only fiscally, but I couldn't ask for a better cheer leader. She's donated a huge sum of money to my fund raising for Chances For Children and she loves being signed up for runner tracking. I know if I ever needed anything, she would be there- no questions asked. I really don't think she has any idea how wonderful she is and how much I've gained just by having her in my life (even if she does live on the other side of the country!)

Yeah, yeah, I know I'm slow and shouldn't have felt
 like I was dying, but baby steps, right?

In my defense, I had barely run for the
 3 weeks prior to this race...

I'm really lucky to have such amazing friends. Sometimes, things seem so hard. We get hurt or get our hearts broken and other bad things and we forget to be thankful for the great things that we do have. A lot of sad things have happened in the last year and a half and I'm so grateful to have people in my life that love and support me.

I think I should blog about that stuff more. I'm luckier than most when it comes to friends and family, and I should recognize them more. Maybe I should make that a regular blogging topic...

Happy Sunday. :)