3.7 Miles Away

There are just two people who know how I made my decision to study at UMass Amherst. One of them is dead. The other person is typing this.

University of Minnesota, Northeastern's Honors Radio & TV Program, Hofstra University *I think* I don't actually remember, and UMass Amherst--I had some interesting choices for college. My Dad and I went driving to the closest first. Entering on the side opposite campus to the stables, it took us about 10 minutes before I saw them grazing in fields beside the road. I was captivated. Decision made-and I wasn't even going to be anything like an equine studies major!

In the last few days, I've had a chemical change where I can smell, sense, and intuit the advent of these creatures in my life. From our house, horses are pretty damn close. Horses have always represented the highest vibration of joy for me. They are the 11 on a scale of 1-10. Only when life, circumstances and money wrinkle circumstance in a precise way, do I even think of the wind in my face, my snug (and beat up) helmet, the great way riding makes my back feel, and the telepathic synergy between woman and horse. Something is cantering back anew into my life. The next ride's for you Dad.

Photo: Fall 2001. Riding through Tuscany. "Volpaia Through Nerissa's Ears"