Good Ol' Roy

I am FREAKING out. Last night Shawn and I went on a date and went to the Douglas County fair with NO KIDS. It was fun. We rode some rides, ate A LOT of BAD food, and then were watching the little pony rides thinking about how much Julia would love that. There was a litte pony there named Roy, that nobody wanted to ride because he was so small, and not that cute, and looked really sad. Shawn fell in love with Roy. He said he looked like he and Julia were kinda "on the same page".

After the fair, we went to Sienna to have a drink before heading home - didn't want to get home too early and have to put the kids to bed - that's what I was paying the sitter for! Anyway, they had a painting on the wall that looked EXACTLY like little Roy. We got the name of the artist and Shawn emailed her today about the painting.

Tonight, me and the kids, and thank God, Anna (my asperger's babysitter), went to the fair. Roy was there - not walking in the circle, but tied to the fence. I took Julia over there to see him. She, of course, loved him. I walked over to the pony ride person and asked when Roy would be back out...she looked at me inquisitively, and then at Julia with her brace on and obviously not a normal kid, and she said she wasn't sure when he would be out. I asked who owned him and she said, "my sister" and pointed to a woman who was out walking with a kid in the pony ring. I, half jokingly, said I was interested in buying him. She yelled to her sister, "HEY, this person wants to talk to you about buying Roy". When the ride was over, the sister, Kurin, came over to talk to me. She said she wasn't sure he was for sale, as he was her son's "therapy horse". She told me her son was autistic - and now 10 years old - and that he had a deep attachment to that horse and it would be up to him when he would leave. I introduced her to Julia and told her about Julia's affliction and that Julia rides weekly and that I am a veterinarian, and that I understood her son's attachment and that I had expected no as an answer, even before I knew the whole story. Kurin looked at Julia and asked if she wanted to ride. We put Julia on Roy and Kurin took Julia on a 20 minute free ride around the WHOLE fairgrounds (while Anna, bless her heart, watched Jack). We talked about special needs kids, her son, treatments she has done, his progression, etc. Towards the end, she said that she actually was thinking it was time to get her son a bigger horse, as Roy is tiny and her son is big, but she was afraid about where he would end up. But she seemed to like Julia, and I think, me, and we had a mutual understanding of what it means to raise a special needs kid, and she said she would consider it, but would have to ask her son. She introduced her son to Julia.

Later in the evening, her son saw us and came over and said, "I think it would be OK for RoyBoy to go with Julia". I almost cried. I spoke with Kurin again, we exchanged numbers, and we are both going to think about it. I just need to find a reasonably priced place to keep this horse that is not much bigger than a Great Dane. He is only a five year old pony, but looks 18, and does not spook at all. She said she wanted to rename him EeeOrr (or however you spell it from Winnie the Pooh, because he is so mellow. Really good pony. ANYWAY - CRAZY!!!!! All because SHAWN, who isn't even a horse person at all, fell in love with the sad looking thing yesterday at the fair. I hope I can make this work.

THEN.............. a little later, I went down the big slide with Julia and when we got to the bottom, there was a woman there who saw Julia and came up to me and asked if she was autistic. I, of course, said, no.....she has a brain injury, blah blah blah....and she said, well, my son is autistic. He is 10 years old. He didn't learn to talk until he was FIVE and now talks. She owns a little shop here in castle rock called "Regina's" and asked me to keep in touch. Regina's is ACROSS THE STREET FROM SIENNA'S where Shawn and I had our drink and saw the picture of the horse that looks just like ROY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM FREAKING OUT! What a good night!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU GOD for your "little" displays of caring and helping lately!

Susan