Stuff. and Things. And other Things.

The title was a bit off today, dear reader. Sorry, my imagination is focused on other things right now.

so today was my first day volunteering at the therapeutic riding center. and it was AMAZING. i don't think i have ever had a more awesome time with people i don't know. just fyi, therapeutic riding is like therapy, if a horse was your therapist, and for volunteers, there are two positions. leader, or sidewalker. leaders are in charge of the horse, and sidewalkers are in charge of the rider. and i was a sidewalked with this guy that we shall call cowboy. because i don't use names, obviously.

so cowboy, we are calling him that because of his hat, a cowboy hat, obviously. so when my mother dropped me off, i had no clue what i would be doing. it was my first time and i didn't see my name with either of the horses for that session, so i was worried. and cowboy was there sweeping, so i thought he was like a barn hand or something. but before i get into him, let me say that he did have one flaw. two really, one were his city boy sunglasses, and the other were his jeans. then again, they might be his stable jeans, because you do get quite dirty. but they were annoyingly 'mom-jeansish'. and that scared me a bit.

so i was standing there, sad and alone, and this really awesome lady with a British accent steps up to me and goes "have you worked with horses before?" and i say, "not really" and she says, "well then, you can just work with me today and i'll show you the ropes!" we will call her Q, because the letter Q was on the pocket of her shirt. she was so nice to me, and it was really the thing that made me at ease. every time i messed something up, she would really quietly remind me of what to do or where to be, and then it saved me the embarrassment of being told what to do in front of cowboy, and also showed me what i should be doing. she won't be there for the next 3 weeks, so i guess cowboy and i will be pretty tight by the time she comes back.

but the girl i worked with today was really sweet, and i think she went to my school last year. but so cowboy and i were sidewalking on either side, and we were in charge of keeping her focused and making sure she understood the instructor's commands. and so we had to keep making eye contact over the horse, and he would always smile, or laugh, and he worked SO well with the girl. lots of people would have been unnerved by the fact that she often made loud, strange noises, but i'm used to it from working with disabled kids in school, and he would just quietly remind her to keep her voice down so she didn't scare the horse. he was just sooooo sweet.

but he was also just sooooo 18-22. and i'm barley passable for 16, and i'm 15. i used to be told i looked older when i was younger. and now i look older, people don't say it much anymore. i used to like thinking i was special, looked older than i was. but i guess everyone tells little kids that. ah well. cowboy could be 17, who knows. or he could be 28. i am a bag judge of age.

so that was my day. hope yours was just as great.

was it?