Friday, October 28, 2011

Gail's 2 loves

This is my Aunt Gail. She is my dad's younger sister. Gail has two loves. I believe her first love is the people around her. She loves her family and she loves her friends. In fact, she can tell every detail of probably every interaction she has ever had with anyone. Seriously, her memory is amazing. She will even do people's voices as she is recounting her stories, if you are lucky. Her very close second love is horses. (Actually horses could be her first love..hard to know for sure)

When she lived in Florida, she was able to participate in a horseback riding program. She got to ride a horse named, Vayda. Gail still talks about that horse and different interactions and conversations she had with him. She will even do his voice too, if you are lucky.

When she moved here to Minnesota from Florida (right after Andrew was born) we all wanted her to be able to continue her horseback riding. Mom and Dad put Gail's name on the waiting list for We Can Ride and after a year or so wait, she was in! We Can Ride is an organization that offers therapeutic horseback riding and carriage driving to adults and children living with disabilities. Gail has been participating in this organization for a few years now. I have wanted to go for a while, but never got around to it (bad niece). Last night was Gail's last session until spring. I finally got a chance to take Gail, see the place and watch her on the horses. I loved having a chance to do something with/for Gail. I loved seeing Gail on the horse. She got to ride Minka. Gail's smile was enormous. I am grateful that there are places like We Can Ride that can bring so much happiness into Gail's life! I look forward to driving her again next year.

2 comments:

Julie W said...

Awesome!

Unknown said...

The only thing that you might possibly be bad at is laundry (and that's only if you ask Erik). You are a wonderful friend and an amazing niece.