When someone who has known you and your family since you were 12 years old… hired you for you first official job at that age… 30 years later says you need some down time … you listen… when your friend of 20 or so years agrees and says you need it… you do it…
Since the passing of my husband March 22… I have experienced love, hate and indifference in the aftermath…
I chose to mourn, grieve and feel sadness in the privacy of my home and with dear friends…
I chose to carry on the journey of helping humans and horses reach a better understanding of each other…
And I chose to support the younger cowboys following boldly in their friend and uncles footsteps…
These were the simple choices… as I believe life is simple – not easy…
The not easy part is staying above all the sadness, hurt and hate people seem to appear with…
So I ran away for a bit… to a magical place in the Bahamas called Harbor Island. And was welcomed with open arms… it was a chance to find myself again… or maybe clear out the attic of my mind?
It was destiny… to hear so many stories I could relate to, see a completely different way of island life… to become the side kick to my friend and be an assistant wedding planner… creating a dream I’ve only seen in magazines or movies… to actually let down enough to sleep on the beach with the crashing waves and glorious sun… eating mangos the way Bohamians eat them, while floating beside the “absolut” in a shallow cove of clear water… deep sea fishing and catching my first skipjack fish! Watching the sunset with beautiful people…
I spent a lot of time alone… thinking and trying hard not to think…
Of all the things in Harbor Island … 2 minutes stand out… Humphrey… born in 1954 on Harbor Island… every morning he picks up the beach of trash, fishing nets that have drifted in… in telling his story he said you have to have vision and unity… people get too hungry for power… he’s lived through some horrible things… and he kept saying it made him better… “they put me in the den of lions and I came out stronger. They will not break me!” …
It’s like he was meant to talk to me… and then he said… “it’s destiny to see you and Lois for 1 or 2 minutes”…
People come into our lives for so many reasons… I can still picture Humphrey’s dark face, his old hat and a dark blue suit coat standing on the corner beside a worn picket fence… but his eyes were so alive, like you could see his soul… in all that’s happened he’s still positive…
I’m slowly learning to follow faith… and breathe deeply in the fact that it all happens in time… and when we don’t understand it we still must walk forward…
A friend told me for every one that’s nasty there’s 20 that love you… and they were true… I am blessed with so many friends and have so many more to meet…
The best is yet to be… when I’m having troubles I’ll remember Mr. Humphrey… and come back stronger and stay positive… the lions in the den won’t get me.