So here I am...
November 30th 2008 03:12
...Erstwhile technical writer in the aerospace industry. One-time vet school aspirant. Animal Science major in college. Wife, mother, caregiver to an aged parent, many threads that together have woven the fabric that makes up my life. But throughout the 52 years I've lived, there's been one constant thread:[
One of the earliest memories I have is going to the newly-opened grocery store with my mom when I was about three years old for the grand opening. The Budweiser Clydesdales were there as part of the festivities. I was so small that my eyes were about on level with the horses' knees; I can remember looking UP at one of the lead horses, which was champing at its bit, and seeing the yellow teeth with the white foam dripping, the pink lips in the blazed face batting open, closed, open, closed. And the fluffy white feathers on the legs. And I know that even back then, without the words to form the thought, that I'd found my passion.
We didn't come from a "horsey" family, though, and finding ways to feed my passion was sometimes difficult. Fortunately for me, back then the newspapers actually carried stories about horseracing, often on the front page and sometimes even above the fold. Horseracing solidified the hold it had on me when I was 9 years old and my grandfather took me to the Sonoma Fair races.
We stood on benches just past the finish line to see, and I'm sure the setting was homely and the horses were cheap, but for all of that I could have been in the best box seat in the clubhouse at Saratoga and it wouldn't have been any better. The horses were beautiful and the excitement was intense.
Waiting out the pari-mutuel workers strike at Santa Anita in 1968 showed me the hold that racing already had on me by that time. I waited through that strike, day by day, for my racing "fix" is something I stil can remember.
And so it's been-- through ups and downs, changes and tedium, all the times both good and bad, Thoroughbred racing has been the constant in my life.
I hope by sharing with other like-minded people, I can continue to grow that passion and to learn from it.
HORSES.
One of the earliest memories I have is going to the newly-opened grocery store with my mom when I was about three years old for the grand opening. The Budweiser Clydesdales were there as part of the festivities. I was so small that my eyes were about on level with the horses' knees; I can remember looking UP at one of the lead horses, which was champing at its bit, and seeing the yellow teeth with the white foam dripping, the pink lips in the blazed face batting open, closed, open, closed. And the fluffy white feathers on the legs. And I know that even back then, without the words to form the thought, that I'd found my passion.
We didn't come from a "horsey" family, though, and finding ways to feed my passion was sometimes difficult. Fortunately for me, back then the newspapers actually carried stories about horseracing, often on the front page and sometimes even above the fold. Horseracing solidified the hold it had on me when I was 9 years old and my grandfather took me to the Sonoma Fair races.
We stood on benches just past the finish line to see, and I'm sure the setting was homely and the horses were cheap, but for all of that I could have been in the best box seat in the clubhouse at Saratoga and it wouldn't have been any better. The horses were beautiful and the excitement was intense.
Waiting out the pari-mutuel workers strike at Santa Anita in 1968 showed me the hold that racing already had on me by that time. I waited through that strike, day by day, for my racing "fix" is something I stil can remember.
And so it's been-- through ups and downs, changes and tedium, all the times both good and bad, Thoroughbred racing has been the constant in my life.
I hope by sharing with other like-minded people, I can continue to grow that passion and to learn from it.
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