Mother's Day 2023 (Summer)

I grew up in a household where there would be threats of death and dismemberment if Mother's Day was forgotten.

That fear has served me well in married life: I remember Mother's Day. Always!

Carrie had a special request this year. She wanted to go look at a horse. 

I made sure to talk to Shane before she did. "Listen. Your mom wants to see a horse. We're going. Ah ah! No complaints. I don't want to drive that far either. But it's Mother's Day. It happens once a year and we love Mom. This will make her feel loved. I don't want to go, but you won't see me complaining. Got it? Good."

Those probably weren't my exact words, but they capture the feeling. In a family, sometimes you have to be a team player and go with the flow. Shane didn't complain and that made the drive so much better (I'm proud of you kid!). 

The day started off with church. Shane went to Youth Group and I went to the main service. Carrie heard the music from the parking lot, so opted to stay outside.

We fueled up at Sheetz in Zion's.

And we drove all the way down to Virginia Beach (I didn't think the screen looked THAT dirty).

I don't think we were far from the NC border when we stopped to gear up. 

Shane helped!

I don't know how much better of a rider he is, but I talked up how much more comfortable Shane was with tacking up and handling horses.

Carrie was in a great mood. 

She didn't even mind (or notice?) that Shane was more fascinated by the chickens than the horse.

We freed one moron bird that was stuck behind the open gate (I don't miss owning chickens).

When Carrie hopped on, I switched to camera duty.

I took lots of videos for Carrie to comb over later.

Sometimes she'll show videos to horse friends to get opinions and advice. I'm just happy to be useful.

Ideally, Carrie wants a family horse. She put Shane on next!

He had to come back from chasing chickens and ride around a little.

He walked the horse around afterwards to see how she'd react.

Carrie and the seller chatted it up the whole time....and then she asked me to hop on next!

I (obviously) didn't take any pictures of myself riding, but I did it! I can sit on a horse that's not evil. 

It freed Shane up to go back and hunt some more chickens. I was happy he was entertaining himself AND that it was in a way he wasn't drawing flak from anyone!

Shane offered to pick hooves when we were done. I don't know if he was thinking about it, but that's the sort of behavior that makes Carrie extra happy on Mother's Day! (Well done!)

There was some haggling and talking on the way back to the car. There were a few things Carrie was concerned about (the teeny tiny hoof size for one). She put down a deposit and ordered a check-up from a vet. It's fairly standard procedure in the horse world. 

In retrospect, we could have skipped the deposit. Carrie decided not to buy the horse after showing some video and talking to friends. She cancelled the vet exam before it happened, but we were still out the deposit (which was way better than being saddled with a horse Carrie didn't want!).

We tried to stop by the Virginia Diner on the way home. There's a meaning there on Carrie's side of things, but I'd never heard of it.

There was one lady making a stink at the front, so we hit the bathrooms and hit the road instead of sticking around. We got Five Guys as a family instead!

In the end, Carrie said she loved her Mother's Day this year. Huzzah! It made for a full Sunday, but Shane was a champ. I was proud of him and how everything went. I hope everyone else had just as great days celebrating mamas everywhere!