Growing up with nephews

I know I often post about my nephews, but today I just want to show them how much their aunt

loves them.

So here's a video I did for a Film Festival that some friends put on.

But I also did it for my nephews, because I love them.

I love you guys!

Minnie Mae Part II

After the vet told Dad that Minnie just had a grass belly and that she was fine, I felt relieved. But I could tell that Dad was still worried. Minnie kept getting bigger and bigger, and I kept wondering how she could get any larger without bursting. I felt worried about her sometimes, but I kept thinking about how the vet had reassured us. Even though she was large and miserable, she would always let me lead her around. And she continued to be so, so sweet. She was never moody or mean at all, no matter how bad she felt.

A few months passed, and Dad told me one day that he thought Minnie was close to ready to deliver her baby. We tried to watch her very closely. A few days later Dad told me he thought she was actually in labor. I was so excited! We watched her for several days. Dad called the vet several times because he kept thinking something might be wrong. But the vet kept reassuring him that things were fine.

Then the dreadful night arrived. But I didn't know it was dreadful at first. I thought I would see Minnie's sweet little foal that night. But after a few hours Dad told me things weren't going right. It was very late at night, but he called the vet and asked him to come. When he got there he checked Minnie, and then he told my parents that she was actually carrying twins but that they had both already died inside her. My mom took me in the house and broke the news to me, and I cried and cried. It was so hard to accept that the baby horse I had been waiting for so long was no longer even alive and that there was a second little one I didn't even know about that was also already gone.

An hour after I found out that Minnie's babies were dead, I was still trying to comprehend how this could have happened. And then my mom and dad took me back in to the house again to break the horrible news that Minnie was suffering terribly and that she had to be put down. They told me there was nothing anyone could do to save her. This was almost more than my heart could bear. My Minnie that I had raised and loved and talked to. She had been my best friend. And now she had to die, and there was nothing anybody could do to save her.

I can't tell you much about what happened after that, because some of it is just blurry. But I do remember laying on my dear, sweet Minnie Mae after the vet had given her the shot to end her life. I laid on her neck and petted her and talked to her until she closed her eyes. And then I sobbed uncontrollably as I looked at her and realized she was gone forever.

I am so thankful that God gave me the best horse ever for two years. I am thankful for all the fun I had with her. I never got to ride her, because by the time she was old enough she was already with foal. But we had so much fun together. And I will always remember her as the sweetest and most gentle horse I ever knew.

My dad had a man come and bury Minnie, and her grave was by the barn. I put flowers on it almost every day. A few months after Minnie's death my family moved away from the farm. It was so sad for me to have to leave Minnie's grave and all the great memories I had with her there on the farm. But as with all sad situations, I had to move on. And I did. I will always miss Minnie, but I am thankful for all I had with her and all the wonderful blessings I still have left.

I dedicate this post to Minnie Mae, a horse I will always love and remember.

Minnie Mae (Part I)

I can still remember driving down that old dirt road. I was having a hard time sitting still because I was so excited. My dad had agreed to at least look into buying me a filly to raise, and we were going to check some out. We arrived at a farm where there were lots of fillies and colts for sale. We looked at them all. But it just didn't seem any of them were right for me. I knew what I wanted......a petite filly with a kind eye. These were all so......well, large. I guess the lady noticed I didn't seem to be too excited over any of the ones she was showing me, so she suggested a little filly she was keeping at a friend's house. She said it was sort of like a pet. When I saw her, it was love at first sight. She was a small little blond girl, and she was so, so sweet. I knew she loved me as instantly as I loved her. At the time I was eight years old.

She arrived at our small farm on a warm spring day. She loved her new home immediately. That day I named her Minnie Mae, and she was to become my best friend.

Minnie grew and thrived on our farm, and I loved taking care of her. When she was a year old, dad bought a much larger farm; and we moved to a small rural town in North Alabama. Minnie, and our other five horses, went with us. The farm was huge, with two large pastures, a great pond, a big old barn and lots of room for my brother and I to explore and play. But I didn't know any girls my age, so I was sometimes lonely. That is when Minnie and I became even better friends. I would sit in the pasture with her and talk and tell her how I was feeling. She was a very good listener :).

Then one day my dad told me that Minnie was going to have a foul of her own. I couldn't believe she had grown up so fast and was now going to be a momma. I was so excited and counted the days until she would deliver. I began to spend even more time with Minnie. Besides my parents and brother, she was more and more becoming my best friend.

My dad became concerned about Minnie and her size. She was such a small horse, and she was getting much too big much too quickly. Dad was worried she might be carrying twins. He explained to me that horses most often cannot carry twins. And Minnie was way too small and delicate to even have a chance of carrying them. My dad called the vet, and he came out and took a look at her. I still remember him saying, "She ain't carrying twins; she just has a big ole grass belly". He didn't even check her. Later Dad wished he had insisted on it.

To be continued......