Jun 23rd, 2008
My girl
I’ve been through it before…leaving a child somewhere for the first time, on their own.
When I took my eldest son to preschool, a mere 3 minutes from home, for a mere 2 hours…I’ll admit I was teary eyed.
Then I sent him on the bus to kindergarten. I hid my tears with sunglasses.
My daughter is 4 1/2 years old. I’ve done a co-op preschool where we rotate friends homes every week…but that’s it. I keep her protectively under my wing. Until today.
Today I drove 30 minutes into the hills and dropped her off at a farm for “Pony Camp.”
Missy has never been a lover of dolls. She’s one of those children who prefers the company of hairier beasts. She’s always been quite at home with animals, and she of course LOVES horses so when I saw the flier I couldn’t resist signing her up. I signed her up that very day and sent in my cash. And then I began to worry…she’s half an hour away, she knows NO ONE, she’ll be gone fore THREE HOURS, what if she gets home sick? What if she’s too shy to communicate?
Still, today I drove her up the long winding gravel roads, made some wrong turns, and finally arrived a few minutes late to Pony Camp. When she saw all the horses she was awestruck. Bianca (owner/operator) assured me she would have a great time and I was welcome to “take off.” She then proceeded to get Missy in her helmet and lead her to the line of ponies that awaited her.
“I really don’t want to take off,” I felt like saying. “I think I’ll stick around for awhile.” But in true Eve fashion I smiled and said my good-bye and left.
I made the drive home with thoughts of all that could go wrong running through my head YET AGAIN. This time some of the worries included Missy being kicked in the face by a horse, or forgotten and left behind on accident. I also felt like I should have asked Missy if she was comfortable enough for me to leave. I almost turned around and drove back.
And now I’m here counting the minutes until I can go pick up my little girl. 30 minutes and counting people! In my heart of hearts I know she’s just fine. But it sure is painful to cut those apron strings for the first time!
Update 6/23/08
This is a picture from two November’s ago. I will have fresh updates after Wednesday. My camera needs to be mended. It is not cold enough in Washington to be wearing gloves and a jacket. It is actually a very pleasant low-70’s.
When I picked Missy up, she started crying and said she couldn’t leave her new pony friend “Pretzel.” Typical. Horses over moms. I should have known.
Good Enough
Oh, you are a girl after my own heart…love you!! But I am so incredibly jealous that it is cold enough there that your kids are BUNDLED up…even gloves!! It is SO hot here right now. But I know the grass is always greener - you would love some hot summer sun.
right?
Um, yeah, tell me about it. I just dropped off McRae for 5 nights of summer camp . . . as in, I won’t see him until Saturday morning! Hold me.
She does look like she had a great time though!
It was horrible, wasn’t it? She had an awful time and you cried your ever-living eyes out. Pony camp is lame. Kindergarten is lamer. Will you please hang out with me next year when my baby leaves me? I need to be with someone who’s woman enough to cry.
Oh my goodness!
I cant wait to hear all about it from Missy.
She is just like her auntie…with her love for animals. I love it!
P.S. I do the same when I leave my furry kids…how sad is that
Hi!
No idea how I wandered to your blog, likely in a string of blog wandering…maybe started at Chilihead…hrmmm…
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyhooo - congrat’s on your new baby! We must get first things first.
But really, I am posting to give you some good/bad news. Girls and horses - your lovely daughter has an incurable bug. I can tell by the look on her face, this is permanent. The good news is that this love will likely keep from countless ills, and teach her priceless lessons of hard work, love and loss. The bad news is that she will be forever obsessed and her obsession is really, really expensive.
This note comes to you compliments of a horse girl who grew up in a non-horse family. God BLESS my parents. Been riding 23 years, wouldn’t trade a moment.
Enjoy!