My ninety-two year old friend Charlotte sometimes shocks me.
Normally she’s rather playful but once in a while she gets very serious, leans in, and stares me down with her big, blue eyes. Then she gives it to me straight.
A few months ago she took a new tactic. She gave me a t-shirt that read “Life Is Short, Buy the Horse.”
This was one of the many reasons Eric and I drove over 3000 miles to Montana recently.
We hadn’t any intentions of getting a filly really and especially not TWO fillies but life is funny that way.
For over twenty-five years I had Bucky. He was my best buddy and the kindest horse ever born. He was fun, adventurous, and completely trustworthy. When he died the depth of my despair felt bottomless and I thought my horse days were over forever. And they were for five years.
Unfortunately those five years were also filled with the “Cancer thing” and the “Brain Tumor thing” which only reinforced the “Shortness of Life thing” and woke up the “Throw caution to the Wind thing”.
But the “Buying the Horse thing” still seemed too big and too overwhelming, so I talked myself out of it.
Instead of the company of horses I tried new adventures like surfing, jewelry making, playing the ukulele and attempting to speak the Italian language.
All of these activities were worthwhile and wonderful ways to play, but my Uke now hangs quietly on the wall, my husband is carving up waves solo, and after finally mastering how to roll my R’s, my Italian language skills have skidded to a stop.
Eventually my desire for each of these faded into dust.
In contrast, my connection with horses is something I have felt deep in my bones all my life. To be in their presence is an honor and deeply transforming. It’s a place of peace and exhilaration.
In Wendy William’s extraordinary book “The Horse” she reveals how horses and humans have been companions for much longer than previously thought. In one fossil bed over 3.5 million years ago they even shared the same walking path now miraculously preserved in hardened ash.
Being in the company of horses helps the human mind to quiet down. This stillness allows for something much more powerful and peaceful to arise. Presence. A true rarity in our multi-tasking technological age.
During my past five horseless years, while I was collecting diseases and recuperating from them “The Horse thing” kept waking up inside me, whinnying like a race horse in an open field of fresh, spring carrots.
And then it became contagious and spread to my husband.
Eric and I plotted, planned, and googled colts for sale for what seemed like a year. When I gave up, he kept going. He was hooked. We also Netflixed Heartland nightly which only fed our obsession.
Our little flicker of a dream turned into a bonfire and now our two little Montana fillies are scheduled to come home soon. We are thrilled! And a bit overwhelmed and scared.
After surviving a few life threatening illnesses I think Charlotte is right. It may be a cliche but I think it is imperative to pay attention to the “Life Is Short thing”. I think that phrase puts things into perspective and helps me take my life and myself less seriously. Which is a really good thing.
After all, the number one regret of the dying is, “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
So what adventure keeps waking up inside of you no matter how hard you try to be logical and talk yourself out of it?
What would your t-shirt say? ”Life is short,________________.”
It takes guts to go for these big dreams which isn’t always comfortable or easy. It can actually be positively nauseating at times.
But if you fast forward to being your ninety-two year old self, what regrets would you have if you always chose logic and rational over meaning and joy?
What risk would you wished you had taken?
What leap would you be so happy to have made (even though it was a bit scary)?
Here’s your permission to dream.... I encourage you to fill in the blank and go for it.
“Life is short__________________.”
I can’t wait to see what crazy, fun and meaningful thing you are dreaming about. Share it with me in the comments below...
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