“Kim, this is your Uncle calling, I have bad news”…. 5 a.m., wow, it is my Uncle in Pa., “how are you, so nice to hear from you”. And then he told me and I can’t remember the exact words, but time stood still. But it was about Susan; she had collapsed and was in the hospital. She had a brain aneurysm and was on life support.
That moment changed my life forever and started a very dark, very rough period in my young life. I raced to her town (1-1/2 hours away) and went straight to the hospital. It was early, no one was there. Susan was in bed; machines breathing for her, motionless. It was shocking.
We had spent so many hours together, talking girl talk, about our dreams, hopes, ambitions. Talking about what would happen if one or the other of us would die and what we believed in. She had two kids she loved more then life itself, two horses she was loyal too for their entire lives. She had opened her home, her heart, her life to her wayward cousin and now she was in front of me, eyes closed, the machines breathing for her. As I sat there talking to her, telling her I loved her, I felt an energy emanating from the top of her head. If it was just my imagination so be it, but I felt her there and I felt her leaving her body; I knew then she was gone.
The following days were horrible and a blur. Her mother came out to Ca., as did my Uncle and we helped to make the arrangements. They donated her organs and stopped life support. The kids had to move in with their alcoholic father since there was no will. Who expects to die a age 32? No one wanted to deal with the horses except to leave them at the ranch where they could roam for the remainder of their days.
My words on how the ranch owner wasn’t feeding or taking care of them fell on deaf ears. Gombol was 19 or 20 and no longer young, he was not keeping his weight up. Horses need good food, medicines, shots, trims or shoes but no one would listen. It was a sad and frustrating time. The girls father told me I would always be able to visit, but then started playing games when I tried. I would drive all the way out just to be told they could not go out with me and he refused to speak to me about it. I knew for their mental health I would have to distance myself as they needed to bond with their dad and his family. It was just one of many regrets in my life.
I made arrangements to board Mystery closer to home. He was too far away for me to work with him and get him trained. Once I found a place to board him, I just needed to figure out how to get him there……
