On My Way

I can't believe that the time has finally come for my summer adventure to begin. When I received "The Envelope" with my award letter in it at the end of February, this day seemed a LONG way away. I am now sitting at Gate B4 at the Indy airport waiting for my flight. I have been so busy shopping for supplies, packing, cleaning the house, and taking care of all the little details involved in preparing to be away from home for almost two weeks that I haven't really had the chance to think about the summer ahead of me. As I sit here waiting for my plane to arrive, I finally have a chance to start thinking about the great adventure that begins TODAY!

I'm feeling lots of things. I am definitely excited about all that I will learn and all the time I will get to spend with horses. I am also nervous about many things:  Will I get a nice, kind, patient, and obedient horse? Will my teachers be nice, kind, and patient? Will I be a good rider? Will I mess up?  Did I buy the right clothes? Of course, I feel worried about my three "babies," even though I know their "granny" will take good care of them. Boy, I am really going to miss those three! Finally, I am feeling very grateful that I get to have this experience. Only 120 teachers in the whole state of Indiana get to do a summer project like this. I know that hundreds more applied and got a more disappointing envelope in the mail in February. I am so grateful that the Lilly Endowment made this dream come true. I have many people in my life to thank, too, but we just got the call to prepare to board. I will save those thank-yous for another post. On my way to the boarding line. Let the adventure begin!