This past weekend was a wonderful weekend but it was also bittersweet.
My daughter is in Westernaires. They are a mounted drill team and considered to be the finest mounted drill team at speed (a gallop) in the world. My daughter is not quite to that level yet but that is what leads to the weekend being bittersweet.
This past weekend was Annual Show. It is held a National Western here in Denver and it is a two day show. It is actually pretty fin and this year I volunteered and worked behind the scenes. I had a blast! There were several hundred kids with there horses in the barns and I was one of the dads who helped with the horses and made sure the kids all had the right flag at the right time. We were busy busy for two days and then it was over. For the graduating seniors it was all over. They rode out of the arena for the last time. They are off to college, the military and wherever else their life might take them.
Over the course of the year I have made some good friends with the parents on our team. This next Saturday is Promotion Saturday when the kids get moved to new teams. This is the first year out of the three years we have been in Westernaires that our group may be broken apart onto different teams. Some relationships will drift apart and new ones will be forged and life goes on.
So as we rolled up the flags and carefully stored them away till next summer, as the kids gather up the pieces of their uniforms and took them home, as we loaded our horses in our trailers and said good-bye, there was a touch of finality in the air that could not be escaped.
Life is funny that way. A chapter in our life closes and we are sad. We have happy memories of that time and we know that the next chapter is about to begin and with it comes new friends and new challenges but we are still sad to see the last chapter end. I guess it is the finality of how it ends that gets to us.
Somethings in life pass so seamlessly from one chapter to the next that we don't even realize it has happened until much later. Like having kids. They come into your life and you are so busy caring for them that it is several years before you really notice that you core group of friends has changed significantly.
But things like school and clubs end with a snap. One moment you are focused on turning in a perfect performance in and the next moment the music is over and you are ridding out of the arena for the very last time.
My daughter is only 14 so she has at least 3 more years before her last ride. But for whatever reason, this show made me realize how short a time three years in your child's life really is.
My daughter is in Westernaires. They are a mounted drill team and considered to be the finest mounted drill team at speed (a gallop) in the world. My daughter is not quite to that level yet but that is what leads to the weekend being bittersweet.
This past weekend was Annual Show. It is held a National Western here in Denver and it is a two day show. It is actually pretty fin and this year I volunteered and worked behind the scenes. I had a blast! There were several hundred kids with there horses in the barns and I was one of the dads who helped with the horses and made sure the kids all had the right flag at the right time. We were busy busy for two days and then it was over. For the graduating seniors it was all over. They rode out of the arena for the last time. They are off to college, the military and wherever else their life might take them.
Over the course of the year I have made some good friends with the parents on our team. This next Saturday is Promotion Saturday when the kids get moved to new teams. This is the first year out of the three years we have been in Westernaires that our group may be broken apart onto different teams. Some relationships will drift apart and new ones will be forged and life goes on.
So as we rolled up the flags and carefully stored them away till next summer, as the kids gather up the pieces of their uniforms and took them home, as we loaded our horses in our trailers and said good-bye, there was a touch of finality in the air that could not be escaped.
Life is funny that way. A chapter in our life closes and we are sad. We have happy memories of that time and we know that the next chapter is about to begin and with it comes new friends and new challenges but we are still sad to see the last chapter end. I guess it is the finality of how it ends that gets to us.
Somethings in life pass so seamlessly from one chapter to the next that we don't even realize it has happened until much later. Like having kids. They come into your life and you are so busy caring for them that it is several years before you really notice that you core group of friends has changed significantly.
But things like school and clubs end with a snap. One moment you are focused on turning in a perfect performance in and the next moment the music is over and you are ridding out of the arena for the very last time.
My daughter is only 14 so she has at least 3 more years before her last ride. But for whatever reason, this show made me realize how short a time three years in your child's life really is.