Full Circle

I met Alix at the barn where I first boarded Sky. Her horse, Promise, occupied a stall across the aisle from us. It's funny, if you ask me what I remember about Alix, it's a day that she was taping the plastic pull-out drawers she kept next to her stall. She wanted to keep them free from dust when they blew out the barn. She always seemed so serious to me. Straightforward. Meticulous. Purposeful. Of course, I suppose as a Navy pilot (an instructor, no less), and a woman pilot at that, the chances of seeing her dancing through the barn singing a Mary Poppins' tune and twirling an umbrella would be somewhat slim.

But I don't know. I never got to know Alix very well.

Nevertheless, that memory of her stays with me. I think about it every time I see dust in my barn. Now, I realize that some dust is inevitable in a barn. "It's a BARN, Jolee," my friends tell me. But the dust doesn't make me happy. Of course when you blow out all the hay and shavings that have accumulated on the floor, you inevitably look around and find DUST. I am already planning to buy a barn vacuum so all the dust gets sucked up and not blown here and there. Yes, I am a bit obsessive about it. (I would like to blame Alix and her tape for my dust obsession...but it's true that my mom used to clean the baseboards with Q-tips.)

Last week, I got a call from Alix about boarding Promise at Forever Sky. The lovely place she had her horse, where she was happy and things were good, was shutting down. She had to find a new place.

"I saw you from the Sky," said Alix.
I could just see her in that T-34 Navy aircraft, observing the area like a graceful bird gliding through the air. (The positive thing about being 2000ft up is that you can't see dust.)

"What did it look like?" I asked.
"Big and green," she said with a slight smile. "With lots of horses."

And now one of those horses is Promise.

Promise. Hope. Expectation. Assurance. I have a feeling that Alix brings all of those things with her. And for me, it's almost as if part of some story has come full circle.

But maybe this time, in this story, I'll have the chance to get to know Alix better.

Welcome, Alix and Promise, to Forever Sky!