It was a beautiful May day in Cozumel when I had one of my most brilliant ideas ever. Let's go horseback riding! I squealed to my friend, Melissa. The next thing we knew, we were on a couple of healthy-not-at-all-abused bucking broncos. Well, at least my horse was of the bucking variety.
After a quick run down the beach, I discovered that my horse had decided that my instructions were not acceptable and we were moving quickly toward to woods where the horses were kept.
So I did what any 22 year old inexperienced rider on her first grownup vacation in a foreign country would do.
I jumped.
A very uncomfortable cab ride to the "hospital" where I refused to remove my swimsuit cover for x-rays (the funniest pics ever -- it was like an internal Polaroid) was just the beginning of the adventure. Fortunately for me, it was only our Carnival Cruise's first stop -- which meant the infirmary was fully stocked with Demerol. Yay me!
After opting not to be med-flighted out of there, I somehow found the perfect cocktail of Demerol and "Mind Erasers," a drink I haven't had since. We then were on our way to climbing the falls in Jamaica and parasailing over the Cayman Islands. Wow, what it was like to be young and stupid.
The long and short of it -- my cracked pelvis and compression fracture of my spine led me to declare that I would never, ever ride another horse again.
'Til now.
Turning 40, for me, has opened my eyes to stepping out of my comfort level and facing my fears -- something I did this morning. Thank you to local mom, Melinda Hersh, for the generous offering of her beautiful horse, Nelly (and yes, I said 'whoah, Nelly)... and my devoted, supportive husband for helping me through it.
What's your biggest fear?
1 comment:
Good for you Jackie! I thought about conquering one of my fears for my 30 by 30 list and then I chickened out and said, nope that can wait until my 40 by 40 or 50 by 50...
p.s. love you in the cowboy hat!
Post a Comment