In the wake of the horrors of the past week, from Charlottesville to Barcelona to Sweden and Finland I want to stop to remember and to remind that there is good in this world.
For the past several months, since we found out we needed to move the horses from the property across the street, we have pretty diligently looked for a new home. We've asked people we know, friends, other horse owners, stable owners, hay field managers, pretty much anyone we could think of. Funds are obviously limited but we were willing to pay something if need be. We did find a few less-than-ideal places, all of which wanted to charge $100 or more per horse, sometimes for no more that a stall with no turnout space. Others, including friends, simply said no.
One morning, after repeated unsuccessful attempts to reach her, Elaine finally was able to contact Rachel (not her real name). Rachel, to her amazing credit, was willing to open her door this stranger, a Gringa, and listen to her explain in sometimes halting Spanish that we needed a place--immediately--to keep three horses for at least three months. Would she be willing to let us use her land?
At first skeptical--understandably so--she eventually agreed that, yes, we could put our horses on her land. This woman, who had never met us, knew nothing about us, didn't know what our "real" agenda might be, didn't know about horses, said, "yes."
Now our horse have a marvelous home, at least for now. I cannot even begin to express my gratitude to Rachel. She seems to be getting more and more comfortable with the horses there.
And our gratitude goes deeper and wider. Despite the uncomfortable end of the relationship with the family across the street, we can only be grateful to them, especially Kiko and his daughter Sandra. For nearly six years, they have allowed us--with minimal intrusion--to keep our horses right across the street at very little cost.
Before that, for five years Dr. Lamela allowed us to keep the horses on his property right behind us.
There are many many horses owners with lots more money than we have who cannot get up in the morning, open the window and see their horses. These have been amazing wonderful gifts.
And one more: last week Elaine lost her purse with the usual collection of driver's license, credit cards, etc. She was pretty sure it hadn't been stolen, just misplaced. Friends as far away as Chicago searched their houses looking for it (we have such awesome friends!) as did friends closer to home where it was more likely she'd left it. It didn't turn up and didn't turn up but there was no suspicious activity on any of the credit cards either. She had finally pretty much given up when a policeman stopped at the house.
He told her the purse was at the panaderia (bakery) near the horses' new home. She went there to get a sandwich and left her purse. It was the only time she'd ever been there and she didn't even think of it.
When she went to the panaderia to retrieve the purse, Elaine talked with the woman. She told Elaine this is her mother's panaderia. Her mother found the purse and expected the owner to come back for it. When no one came to claim it, they set it aside. It was someone else's purse, someone else's business, and they had no business going through it. When the policeman came into the panaderia, the woman told him someone left this purse. Would he mind looking through it and see if he could find the owner? The officer found her driver's license and said, "I think I know this woman." He drove down to tell Elaine and thus, the purse was found and returned intact. What phenomenal integrity! And honesty! If only there were more in the world.
But we are humbled and immensely grateful for what there is.
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