Gateway drug

Of all the things I inherited from Carol when she moved to Germany, the best by far is her friend, Maire.

Carol and Marie in 2019

Ever since Carol left, Marie and I have been meeting for the occasional lunch. I've enjoyed getting to know her better, and would like to do it more often. If only we had Carol here to make plans for us!

But I digress. During one of these lunches, Marie mentioned that her eight year old daughter, Sophia had been bitten by the horse bug. 

""She talks about horses all the time," Marie told me. "She has some toy horses, and a horse game on her tablet, but she's never actually met a real horse in person."

Just like that, I had an important new item on my 2019 to-do list.

Yesterday, Sophia met a whole lot of horses.

She spent some quality time with Scarlett...

and groomed and led Santana.

Best of all, she got to go for a short ride on Stealth.

This was such a fun day! In fact, Marie reports that Sophia has proclaimed it to be "it was the best day ever in her entire life."

Sorry/not sorry, Marie. I think your daughter really has been bitten by the horse bug. I look forward to seeing a lot more of the both of you in the upcoming year!