A Little Bit Traditional : July 16, 2012 PART 1

The day of July 16, 2012 will always be with my family, many dear friends and the stables...

You may need a little history about stables to go along with this story...

It started almost thirty years ago. Branden's Uncle Jimmy was a long time employee here and loved his job. It started out as a single barn, Ebenezer, well the barn had to relocate and so did many of it key members. In the relocation some how it became two barns. One, which we will call, Creedmoor and the other Virginia. Which are ran by Hilt and Simone.

Alot of the memories Branden has are from the stables, he was there before he was born. Uncle Jimmy, Simone and Branden's mom spent many days together on the farm. In fact Simone and Branden's Mom were pregnant at the same time. Branden's Dad wasn't around much and thats where Uncle Jimmy came in. Needless to say Branden was attached to Unlce Jimmy at the hip and where you saw one you generally saw the other.

Well in the barn moving they purchased the farm in VA and from what I hear the place was a disaster. A disaster being horses stalls so full of poo you could barely get in them, miles of fencing that need to be done and so on. Branden's family naturally went up there to help with this "new" barn process, Uncle Jimmy was a key member of the stables and this job required all-hands-on-deck.

The many years of them all being together turned out for the good. Co-workers became brother and sister (Uncle Jimmy and Simone), you see they all became family. The family God created through friendships not through blood.

The stories of the stables could fill more pages than a dictionary. Stories of boys fighting, pushing manure barrels up the hills of the Ebenezer barn, to a rather large black woman getting bucked off because her choice of shoe, for riding, was a stiletto.

Fast forward almost 30 years and we still go there probably 3/4 times a year.

The weekend leading up to July 16th.

The family took off to the VA stables with Uncle Jimmy and Tina (friend from the barn) in tow. You see as time went by Uncle Jimmy couldn't go to VA with us as much. So most times it was Branden's grandparents, his mom, her boyfriend, Branden and I. We were all so excited about the trip and knowing Uncle Jimmy could go made Branden that much more excited.

These trips are always an adventure. You aren't guarenteed many thing but you are guarenteed, food, fun, laughing, four wheeler rides, fishing, late nights and shooting the bull with Good Ole Hilt. This weekend was nothing different. We rode more four wheelers than should be allowed, cooked and ate enough to feed a small army, stayed up late at nights around the fire, shot plenty of bull with Hilt and Tina and I actually went on a horse ride.

You may be going you are on a horse farm, ain't riding horses what you normally do??? The answer would be no. I have been going there for six years now and have never been riding up there until this particular weekend. We had been talking about riding all weekend but we only went twice. The second day the weather was awesome the sun was shining, it was a little hot but it was beautiful. We hitched up two of Hilt's trustly horses for a second time and set out. We had been riding for a few hours and were in the very back corner of the property when we heard the thunder. I am not a fan of storms so we started our way out. The ride to the barn on horses is probably 15 minutes. Needless to say the clouds rolled in like, "cops on a crack head" before we could make it out of that trail. At first it was just a sprinkle, as we were heading back to the barn, then a little harder but not really raining and before we knew it the "bottom had fallen out" with lightning and thunder included. Oh I have never seen so much lightening or heard so much thunder and part of that may be because I am hiding in the corner or trying to crawl under my bed.

If you have ever riden a horse you know how they are with storms. Simular to a bi-polar person, they switch from calm, beautiful, magestic creatures to "you better hold on" in half a second. Tina and I didn't know it but the horses were "off to the races". On our frantic run from the back pasture to the barn all I could think about was the gate that we had to open. With the horses going nuts and the lightening/thunder I was bound and determined I was NOT getting off that horse to open the gate. If the gate didn't get flung open by the hands of God I was gonna jump it. Which I wouldn't have done and is impossible but I was pertrified. We got lucky and Mom's boyfriend was there to open it for us.

As we step out the gate lightning hits the ground right beside us and the horses jump sky high. I must say that horse probably had his insides rearranged because I squezzed the mess out of him and attempted to suck that saddle up my butt. We finally made it back to the barn with no broken bones on horse or human. We were safe!!!

In having all this fun, that weekend, Branden and his mom still had time to noticed something wasn't right. The Uncle Jimmy we all love was acting a little different than normal. He kind of kept to himself and if you had the pleasure of knowing him, you know he kept NOTHING to himself. Uncle Jimmy was not a huge fan of storms but attempted to sit at the gate waiting for Tina and I to return in this storm. Mom's boyfriend switched spots with Uncle Jimmy about half way through the storm. Tim sitting out in the storm is nothing new, he has no fear, but Uncle Jimmy sitting in the storm was weird.

As the weekend came to a close we had one last dinner. Uncle Jimmy cooked his famous chicken and we all talked and carried on for hours.