Jane Ballot

Being me in the world

(Re)Finding Friends

If I say that I have missed being around, working with and riding horses, it will sound as though this is something I used to do very often – which is not the case. However, it was something that we grew up doing fairly regularly at the farm and which we have not done for years. It is also something I have missed.

Yesterday we spent the day on a friend’s farm, generally communing with her horses and going for a really nice ride.

And it was great to be back in the saddle again.

It was also really lovely to be talking to the horses and beginning to get to know them, especially as she knows them so very well and had lots of stories to tell.

In some ways, it was like finding a group of friends again. Although every single horse there, as well as every single horse we have ever owned, has its own personality, yesterday had the feeling of familiarity and just being among the wonderful creatures again.

This idea of getting together with people I have not had contact with for years, sometimes, appeals to me. I don’t know if it’s anything to do with having had cancer and seeing the world differently, or if it’s just me. I strongly suspect the latter, with, perhaps, just a little of the former thrown in.

Every year I have a party for my birthday, which is next month. Last year was an exception, due to the mastectomy etc. This year, I will make up for it in a big way! I have friends I was at school with who will get a phonecall around this time of year, with the message: ‘It’s that time of year again!’ Sometimes we may not see each other for the whole year, but we all know that October will rock around again and there will be the party.

Isn’t that what having ‘occasions’ like birthdays is about? It’s the perfect excuse to open up one’s home and heart and to just celebrate with friends – old and new.

This year, I’m having a ‘kids’ party for adults and everyone’ – because I can and because I just feel like it. We will play with balloons and eat candyfloss and, generally, regress as much as we like.

I suppose that, if it’s a kids’ party, I should have a pony ride. The practicalities seem to loom large – I suppose, sometimes, we have to be sensible.

On the other hand… 😉

 

 

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