To Ride the Wild Horse

I believe there really is a child hidden in all of us. Granted for some it's buried deeper than others....for me, a carousel will bring it out every time.

What a marvelous capture of time they are. Under their knives, artists at the turn of the century brought wood to life. You can hear the stamping hooves, feel the breath and listen to the cries, and for a small coin tame your own wild beast if only for a few minutes. They are irreplaceable works of art carved into time, and they call to me like magical beasts from the pages of history.

In Myrtle Beach, SC, is an amusement park called the Pavilion which is finally responding to the ever-increasing call of the Might Dollar. It represents a tradition, an icon, the very image of 'going to the beach' for generations of Sandlappers of this area. It's really a sad thing to lose an icon. We spent spring break there this week, and every time we rode by the "Farewell Season!" signs I could almost feel the sigh escaping my husband and I. It's like a black cloud, just hanging around, thinking about the lights going out and the laughter fading there. Amid the modern rides, the Old Timey picture booths, and the many ways to spend a dollar, there are two real gems though. One, a German Band Organ, and the other a true, Hershell-Spillman carousel. Built in 1912 and restored, it still has that incredible warm, alive feeling of a true, real carousel. They call to me and I stand like a child again, watching them go round and round and round, trying to read the faces of the horse that seem to leap right off the platform. I always have to pick out the lead horse and watch for it, but that's never the one that really captures and tames me. It's always the most lifelike one...the one I would choose from that fantasy place where you really get to ride your wild one.

I truly pray that something special is done with this gem of a carousel and it's special little zoo. It doesn't belong with the screaming Make Your Own Wax Hand! or Your Name on a Grain of Rice! booths that abound in today's amusement parks. Even though the Pavilion is an institution filled with fond memories, these wild horses belong to a gentler, kinder time. The brass rings no longer exist on the carousel rides of today, but maybe the REAL prize is the feelings they give us. I'm praying for preservation of these wild beauties. Once they're all gone, they will never ever come again to these lands.

Heidi Heidi HO!

We humans think we're pretty smart. We plan out our lives, decide how things should happen, put things in our future like writing them in a calendar. "The next dog will be a big, lovable boy for Robert", we said with just a touch of smug confidence...."and we won't get a senior either, so that we don't have dogs aging at the same time again."

Hmmmm, yeah. Well.... I'm not sure dogs can read calendars.

Some dogs come into your life on soft little feet, sneaking in with a snaggle-tooth grin oblivious to the couldn't, shouldn't and won'ts that are supposedly set up ahead of time.

And so Heidi, precious little Heidi, came in as a foster and grinned her way straight into her Daddy's heart. And with a grin, pronounced that she just wasn't leaving.

Welcome to our family, sweet girl. You're a Daddy's girl, through and through, but Florida and I have taken a shine to you too. :-)