The two above-mentioned lives have been separate entities in my life for ever since I can remember. Most of my horse friends are unaware that I am writing obsessed. And my writing friends are unaware that I am horse obsessed. I have hardly taken notice of this. I’ve just continued to do what do, happily going back and forth between the two.

This weekend I came one step closer to merging my two previously unrelated identities. There was the horse symposium presentation yesterday, in which I did say that I’m a writer. And there was the Aprons could Talk presentation this evening, in which I made it known to some that I’m a horse person. It was a stretch.

And it’s always going to be a stretch. But less stretch is easier on me physically and mentally.

Tonight, at the Aprons presentation – we had eight readers who gave presentations on a wide variety of apron-related subjects. Me, I presented after a local dentist talked about what her dental smock might say. I said that my having worn a lead dental apron was a trigger for what I’m calling my family oral history. I then read three poems, rites of passage dental poems, about my grandmother’s dentures, my sister’s having a tooth pulled, and about my mother dealing with me teething.

These poems were all new. I wrote them during what I’m calling the February challenge – I wanted to see if I might be able to write a poem a day. It’s now February 19 – and I have managed so far to write a poem and sometimes two, a day. I have surprised myself, having come up with some good poems that I otherwise would not have written.

This morning I revised the three poems that I was to read. And I practiced reading them. This turned out to be a really good thing to do because I partially memorized these poems and also cleaned them up some.

As for the horsey part – I got Nan Potts, a local horse person, to present. She does iron work and talked about making literal iron dogs. And I talked our horsey friends, Dan and Renee LeMay into attending. And, I got Deb Moore, who is a local horse person, to present. She told a story about her horse Jack – and how she subdued his supposedly more wild nature. Deb had everyone on the edge of their seats by the end – she said that she had a story about how Jack saved her husband’s life, but that this story would have wait until another time.

I do not know how I might make further horse/writing connections locally. I am going to be doing this for sure in April when I go back east and Susan Harris and I do a Centered Riding/Centered Writing/Centered Art workshop. And maybe, just maybe, if all goes well, we will do such a workshop here. This then, would bring my two supposedly divergent worlds closer together.

I’m having a good time doing both. And I value the friends I have who are in both camps. It’s just sometimes a long paddle across the lake – would like to see it be shorter.

51. 2/20/17: An Ideas Day: Count Your Lucky Stars