Horse goes to...

For those of you who don't know Horse, let me fill you in. My Grandma Berber (baby for, "Barbara") gave me this little brown stuffed horse when I was an infant. I, quite literally, do not know what life is like on this planet without Horse. He has always been there and I suspect that seeing his long fuzzy nose in the crib helped to spawn my all-out crazy obsessive passion for horses as a little girl.

Among all my stuffed animals he always had a special place in my heart and home. I never out grew him, I never felt he fell out of fashion. He was Horse. He had immunity from the Velveteen Bunny Effect.

I once used duct tape to fashion a saddle and bridle for him. You can still see a little bit of the sticky stuff on him. His nostrils are gone, his tail sewn back on, and he's even had a little under-belly surgery (c/o my mom), but he still has his kick. He continues to stand on all fours and is as taut with his stuffing as day one. How can that be?? He's got to be at LEAST 32 years old! I doubt that today's toys would last even half as long!

He is the most precious material possession I have. I have chased down a bus in an airport terminal when I accidentally left him on it and I always check him with my carry-on in case of a tragic suitcase mishap. For the entire decade of my twenties I fell asleep with him in my arms and never traveled anywhere without him, feeling on some deep level that he was a good luck charm.

All my friends know Horse. He was featured on our "save the date" card "drinking" a glass of red wine (not unlike the black and white picture up top of us in the DFW airport on our way back from Mexico two years ago), sitting at our sign-in table at the wedding, and I even had a stamp made of him to mark on all the welcome bags, too. I love Horse, plain and simple and am not ashamed to yell it to the world.

Since Anthony came around the only change in my devotion to Horse has been to sleep with him less (Horse, not Anthony). He now has a place of honor in my bedroom on a bookshelf in plain sight. He watches over me from his perch and I feel at peace and as if all is right with the world - and if any of you are wondering what I'd do if I lost Horse, well, I'd grieve and get over it. I'm not that freaky! haha.

I've sent Horse on multiple trips with Anthony and he always takes pictures of him for me. Here he is at Niagra Falls. Mind you, I've never been to Niagra Falls.

He's posed with other horses, puppets, dogs, cats, babies, pan handlers, street performers, relatives, oceans, and trees. Here he is with Zack in Mitchell NE (or SD - I can't remember which) on his way to Sturgis with Anthony this week.

One of the things I want to do is make a coffee table book of Horse. Not for anyone else but me. He's been all over Texas, to Pittsburgh, London, Paris, California, New Orleans, the Florida Everglades, and Mexico to name a few. Whenever I leave town I make sure to take a picture of him. I want to sit down when I'm 80 and look at all the things Horse and I did together. - Hmm, I hope I can dig up all those photos. Despite being freaky-organized with most things I don't have a "Horse Folder," yet.

I told Anthony to have the scariest looking biker at Sturgis hold Horse for me. We'll see if he can do it. He said it's easier to be a cute blonde girl asking people to hold Horse than it would be for him. I told him he was plenty cute for the job. We'll see if he can pull it off. With Horse by his side I don't see why not!