Twinkle

“Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.”

Joshua J. Marine

My Aunt Janice kept horses and ponies at her property when I was a kid. She had a pretty big barn and an even bigger corral that my cousins and I would ride in. Being the youngest, I was the worst rider of the bunch.

The horses were a bit big for me, so I often would end up on Twinkle, the meanest pony that ever lived, or at least he was in my mind. If you walked near him, he’d try to bite you. If you walked behind him, he’d kick at you. My sister was a good rider, as you can see from the picture above, which shows her making him rear up for a photo in front of our house.

Well, one day we were all out riding around in the corral, and I was on Twinkle. I hadn’t noticed that someone left the barn door open a couple of inches, but Twinkle noticed, and he took off for it like a lightning bolt. It must have been near feeding time, because in seconds, we were at full gallop heading straight for the crack in the door.

Try as I might, and I tried with all my might, I could not slow Twinkle down or change his direction in the slightest, and I was too afraid to jump off. Before I knew it, we blasted through the door. As my knees hit each door, I felt like they touched behind me as we crashed in, with me just barely staying on.

Twinkle calmed down quite a bit once we were inside the barn, and Bill Fain, the much-loved ranch hand, quickly grabbed the reins and brought him to a halt. I was about to burst into tears when Bill said, “Wow, you are some kind of rider to stay on him while flying through the knot hole in the door! Not many people could do that!” And a funny thing happened: my fear and tears dried up as I felt a sense of pride well up in me.

I’ve often thought of Bill’s words that day. He instantly assessed the situation and knew how a few words of encouragement at the right moment could make all the difference. I remember that day as a victory. Bill passed away just a few years later, but I’ll never forget his kindness to me that day, and how it’s all about how you look at things and the meaning you give them.

Thank you, Bill.

-Hank