Missing and remembering again

It was a difficult day at the stables last week. A horse was very sick and the owner had to get the vet to come. When I left the barn the vet was there checking him out. It was a female vet which is always nice to see.

I asked abut the horse the next time I was at the barn. The horse did not make it. They think he had a stroke which seems unusual for a horse.

The barn staff member who was around that day said it was quite upsetting. She was there helping the owner with what she needed. She said - I did not get any work done that day. What I thought - that was the work she needed to do - to be there and help out with the horse and the owner as well.

She told me that she had gone with Bishop when he was taken to the vet in Napanee. Then I felt sad and I missed him again. The nice part of the story is that she was the person walking Abracadabra when I first met her.

*****

I make a point of reading the obituaries in the local paper. In the last while there have been several people I know who have died.

It is good to remember one’s connections with these former neighbours and church, work and riding friends. Some were folks I saw often and then there were those from my past.

I remember with fondness James - a riding colleague; very English and lots of fun to be around. Then Myrtle whom I worked with at Labour Canada and she was a great help to me when I started working there. James was 81 and Myrtle was 85.

It is sadder to remember those who died in their 50s or 60s. I think they still had a lot of living still to do.

As someone said after a funeral - I wish I had got to known Drummond; I do not think we every had a conversation; From his eulogies he sounded like a very interesting person.

That makes me stop and think about how I am involved with people and just making time to know them through whatever connections we have.