I shall apologize immediately for the length of it but it's too funny because it came true and was linked to a horse !!
So I never owned a horse when a child because even in france it was still too expensive for my family to get one, but I was nut about horses so I was going from Paris via a little train to Versailles and there in a low key suburbs of Versailles was an old little barn where there were horses belonging to the owner of the barn that you could start on and then ride if you could get better. And it was not too expensive.
After two years of riding and cleaning stall to get more lessons at discount I reached the age of 14. I was tall but scrawny, flat chested, much like a boy really. But I started to have owners with really good horses who would ask me to ride their horses in show jumping and of course that was my dream.
So one day, in May in fact, of my 14th year, I rode one of those really good horses at a show, I think the rails were at 1m20 and I was clear, for the jump-off.
But the apex was that next door to the show, was an intense prep-school for male students who were in their 20s preparing for Polytechnic which in Paris is a very difficult university to get in.
And this was a sunny sunday and though the students were cramming on Sundays too, some had come and over the hedge were watching the show. And once I had cleared the course they erupted in shouts and screams and whistles to cheer us my horse and me. I can't tell you, no male was paying attention to me at the time, as I was this scrawny-tanned-boylooking-girl but there for like one minute I was cheered on !! Oh my, I still remember the astonishment and bliss of it !!! lol lol lol
That kind of true joy gets into our bones and is relived every time the story behind it is shared. Cheering over the hedge here in NH for the scrawny-tanned-future-woman-of-experience-wisdom-and-kindness! Brava, flo!
OMG, dear EJean! No wonder you wanted to break out the window and twirl and twirl up in the sky! What a marvelous tale of love and devotion winning out, coming from behind!
My moment would have to be whispered to you in a personal private conversation someday, but for now I'll happily twirl and celebrate that young woman and her beautiful marvelous horse!
THIS WOMAN! If only women ruled the world, what an wonderful world it would be. Honestly, I have never wanted any one thing, yet have lived exactly the right life for me. Thanks for posting this.
Well, I guess it was the moment when the man I loved told me he wanted to spend his life with me. We were driving down a busy street on a sunny summer afternoon, feeling free. “Would you consider living in Europe with me?” Two lightening strikes at once (love Stevie Nicks).
Growing up you always hope to meet your prince charming just like in the movies. Well I did and I don't know how I got so lucky. We were married 45 years until he passed away. I also had a horse at one time and i also had a first husband and he was a horse's ass! Altogether I have been pretty lucky.
my first and only horse was a beautiful (think unicorn without a horn) Connemara pony I rescued from a college stables where he'd been ridden into the ground, and was being slowly killed by non-care. he'd been in pain for years and had gotten pretty cranky about people. he was with me for four years and got his mojo back, his trust in life and people was restored, and his last ten years were spent as a beloved and doted-upon school pony for the very smallest riders.
I loved him enormously, will miss him always, and am so happy to have been able to give him back his life.
but as is common with humans and the animals in our lives, each new owner renamed him. so I knew him first as Brick, then as Apollo, and the little kids where he spent the last decade of his life named him Squire--which I like. I called him Sniffy Bear, and other endearments.
I have heard and seen pictures of those glorious cats. Brava ! When I finally settle down--I'm hoping within two years, I've been wandering for four--I will got to a shelter and adopt a cat. Unless one finds me meanwhile.
It was the day I and the movie's director went to a screening of what became my most successful movie I wrote with a "regular audience" and they stood up and applauded at the end of the movie.
I remember being 19 years old. It was an afternoon. I was in a studio classroom at Juilliard. We had just finished an improvisation acting class. I had an overwhelmingly happy fulfilled feeling: the feeling that I was in exactly the right place at the right time and doing the most right thing I could ever imagine. Plus: I knew that I was fulfilling the wildest dreams that my ancestors could possibly have had for their children’s, children’s, children.
And I am still waiting for my own “everything I ever wanted” moment to arrive, preferably wearing a hat, carrying snacks, and slightly apologizing for the delay.
I cannot remember one single day in my life that came even close.
Now, the day I lost everything? Pull up a chair. Bring sandwiches. Possibly a flask.
That horse I can describe in detail.
The winning horse may still be somewhere in the back of the field, checking the map, muttering about timing, and refusing all sentimental music until the final stretch.
There are so many moments. My first day on the Mount Holyoke campus. When I got my first internship - at Rolling Stone, fulfilling a 12-year dream to move to NYC and actually survive and thrive. The days my daughters were born. The time I truly fell in love. The time I had a garden. That time when working for a start-up actually paid dividends and allowed me to buy A Real Bed and a car.
I'm grateful for all of these my-cup-is-overflowing moments. And I look forward to so many more.
I am hands down all for firsts for women and against all odds wins for any number of things that are not cruel and inhumane. Personally, I believe horse racing should be banned, along with dog racing, bull fighting, and any other way people find enjoyment watching animals that are exploited, suffer or die. As a kid, I always started sobbing, whenever a horse got injured or killed on one of the TV westerns or in war scenes in movies etc. Didn't care about the people so much. Figured they chose to fight. The horses dd not. Never had a horse. Sorry to be a downer on this.
Not a horse story, E.Jean, but the decades old memory of the final push to launch my daughter into the world is still sublime. So glad for the natural childbirth experience.
I think I am also waiting for my everything moment. But one really special moment was spending the night at Max Gate in 2013. I was there all alone, it was my payment for a lecture I gave there on Thomas Hardy. I had worked so long and so hard to live and work in the England of English literature.
That, and dancing in the living room with my nephew when he was 3.
I am going to watch the video tonight, E. Jean, with my mom, who loves horses.
What an incredible story! I have a very old T-shirt that says "Women fly when men aren't watching." I think that goes for horses, too.
I don't know that I have ever gotten everything I want -- my wants are ever-changing -- but one of the most perfect moments recently was me sitting in the swimming pool eating a jalapeno popper cheeseburger and sipping wine from a plastic glass (stemmed, of course) with my fella and my youngest kid. I am so grateful that there have been far too many other perfect moments to mention.
My favorite horse belonged to a childhood friend who lived on a working farm that dated back to pre-Revolutionary War times. We never bothered to saddle the horses, just climbed on, and this particular one, Jesse, liked to try to scrape me off against fences and trees.
I can see you and Jesse now, Brynnetania, on a fast gallop----you holding a plastic glass of wine in one hand----- your fella, on Golden Tempo, behind you, eating YOUR cheeseburger.
I shall apologize immediately for the length of it but it's too funny because it came true and was linked to a horse !!
So I never owned a horse when a child because even in france it was still too expensive for my family to get one, but I was nut about horses so I was going from Paris via a little train to Versailles and there in a low key suburbs of Versailles was an old little barn where there were horses belonging to the owner of the barn that you could start on and then ride if you could get better. And it was not too expensive.
After two years of riding and cleaning stall to get more lessons at discount I reached the age of 14. I was tall but scrawny, flat chested, much like a boy really. But I started to have owners with really good horses who would ask me to ride their horses in show jumping and of course that was my dream.
So one day, in May in fact, of my 14th year, I rode one of those really good horses at a show, I think the rails were at 1m20 and I was clear, for the jump-off.
But the apex was that next door to the show, was an intense prep-school for male students who were in their 20s preparing for Polytechnic which in Paris is a very difficult university to get in.
And this was a sunny sunday and though the students were cramming on Sundays too, some had come and over the hedge were watching the show. And once I had cleared the course they erupted in shouts and screams and whistles to cheer us my horse and me. I can't tell you, no male was paying attention to me at the time, as I was this scrawny-tanned-boylooking-girl but there for like one minute I was cheered on !! Oh my, I still remember the astonishment and bliss of it !!! lol lol lol
Thunderous applause from the Ask E. Jean Hovel! No doubt you can hear it, Flo!!!!
lol you are all nuts !!! but thank you !!!!!
"National Versailles".
Flo's "National Velvet" moment. :D
oh my goodness David !! Thank you from the ugly duckling ! lol
Delightful duckling :D
:D
:D
lol. In the eyes of the beholder..
what a fabulous memory!
Thank you !!! I could feel my joy of then and I am 79 lol
What a great story! ❤️
That kind of true joy gets into our bones and is relived every time the story behind it is shared. Cheering over the hedge here in NH for the scrawny-tanned-future-woman-of-experience-wisdom-and-kindness! Brava, flo!
Kim thank you ever so much !! And you are so right !!! After writing it I was like smiling stupidly like for a half hour !! lol
I. Love. This.
Kay, that is so sweet !!!!!
What a great story! Thanks for sharing, that must have been amazing at 14!
lol you are so right Babette ... thank you !!
Magical, Flo. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Lorraine that is wonderful to read ...
OMG, dear EJean! No wonder you wanted to break out the window and twirl and twirl up in the sky! What a marvelous tale of love and devotion winning out, coming from behind!
My moment would have to be whispered to you in a personal private conversation someday, but for now I'll happily twirl and celebrate that young woman and her beautiful marvelous horse!
I love a whispered moment!!!
THIS WOMAN! If only women ruled the world, what an wonderful world it would be. Honestly, I have never wanted any one thing, yet have lived exactly the right life for me. Thanks for posting this.
You are a wise WISE woman, Kay!
Well, I guess it was the moment when the man I loved told me he wanted to spend his life with me. We were driving down a busy street on a sunny summer afternoon, feeling free. “Would you consider living in Europe with me?” Two lightening strikes at once (love Stevie Nicks).
So marvelous a moment that I need a better word than marvelous Patience!
Growing up you always hope to meet your prince charming just like in the movies. Well I did and I don't know how I got so lucky. We were married 45 years until he passed away. I also had a horse at one time and i also had a first husband and he was a horse's ass! Altogether I have been pretty lucky.
Linda! You just made my day!!!!
hehe
Back in 1955, I got a beautiful 1951 Chevy. Wish I knew how to upload a photo.
Ahhhhh, Tom! She must have been a beaut!!!
Better looking than the one Gene Hackman drove in “Hoosiers.”
Tom if you "restack" instead of posting to the comments you can attach a photo. We'd love to see your classic!
my first and only horse was a beautiful (think unicorn without a horn) Connemara pony I rescued from a college stables where he'd been ridden into the ground, and was being slowly killed by non-care. he'd been in pain for years and had gotten pretty cranky about people. he was with me for four years and got his mojo back, his trust in life and people was restored, and his last ten years were spent as a beloved and doted-upon school pony for the very smallest riders.
I loved him enormously, will miss him always, and am so happy to have been able to give him back his life.
What was this lovely soul's beloved name, Miranda?
but as is common with humans and the animals in our lives, each new owner renamed him. so I knew him first as Brick, then as Apollo, and the little kids where he spent the last decade of his life named him Squire--which I like. I called him Sniffy Bear, and other endearments.
Squire
What a beautiful tail from the rescue world, Miranda. My rescue Siberian Forest Cat Gracie and I salute your kindness.
I have heard and seen pictures of those glorious cats. Brava ! When I finally settle down--I'm hoping within two years, I've been wandering for four--I will got to a shelter and adopt a cat. Unless one finds me meanwhile.
It was the day I and the movie's director went to a screening of what became my most successful movie I wrote with a "regular audience" and they stood up and applauded at the end of the movie.
Tom! I always forget you are also a screenwriter! And this is INCREDIBLY wonderful!
TCinLA you are a mystery man. Please tell us which movie!
I remember being 19 years old. It was an afternoon. I was in a studio classroom at Juilliard. We had just finished an improvisation acting class. I had an overwhelmingly happy fulfilled feeling: the feeling that I was in exactly the right place at the right time and doing the most right thing I could ever imagine. Plus: I knew that I was fulfilling the wildest dreams that my ancestors could possibly have had for their children’s, children’s, children.
Shoba! No wonder you recall exactly when it happened and where------------------make a thousand dreams come true!!!!
E. Jean I adore this story!
And I am still waiting for my own “everything I ever wanted” moment to arrive, preferably wearing a hat, carrying snacks, and slightly apologizing for the delay.
I cannot remember one single day in my life that came even close.
Now, the day I lost everything? Pull up a chair. Bring sandwiches. Possibly a flask.
That horse I can describe in detail.
The winning horse may still be somewhere in the back of the field, checking the map, muttering about timing, and refusing all sentimental music until the final stretch.
You are definitely a come-from-behind sensation, Jay!!!!!
There are so many moments. My first day on the Mount Holyoke campus. When I got my first internship - at Rolling Stone, fulfilling a 12-year dream to move to NYC and actually survive and thrive. The days my daughters were born. The time I truly fell in love. The time I had a garden. That time when working for a start-up actually paid dividends and allowed me to buy A Real Bed and a car.
I'm grateful for all of these my-cup-is-overflowing moments. And I look forward to so many more.
INTERNSHIP AT ROLLING STONE! Merely every person in America wanted that job in the 70's, 80's and 90's, Laura!
Good old David Black came through for me in 1986!
I am hands down all for firsts for women and against all odds wins for any number of things that are not cruel and inhumane. Personally, I believe horse racing should be banned, along with dog racing, bull fighting, and any other way people find enjoyment watching animals that are exploited, suffer or die. As a kid, I always started sobbing, whenever a horse got injured or killed on one of the TV westerns or in war scenes in movies etc. Didn't care about the people so much. Figured they chose to fight. The horses dd not. Never had a horse. Sorry to be a downer on this.
Not a horse story, E.Jean, but the decades old memory of the final push to launch my daughter into the world is still sublime. So glad for the natural childbirth experience.
"The Final Push! And the young lady's entrance into the world!!!! A splendid moment!
Wow! Yes.
I think I am also waiting for my everything moment. But one really special moment was spending the night at Max Gate in 2013. I was there all alone, it was my payment for a lecture I gave there on Thomas Hardy. I had worked so long and so hard to live and work in the England of English literature.
That, and dancing in the living room with my nephew when he was 3.
I am going to watch the video tonight, E. Jean, with my mom, who loves horses.
Delivering a lecture Thomas Hardy has got to be right at the top, Samantha! And.....perhaps dancing with your nephew when he was three.....IS the top.
I agree! It doesn’t get much better than that. Thank you. ❤️
What an incredible story! I have a very old T-shirt that says "Women fly when men aren't watching." I think that goes for horses, too.
I don't know that I have ever gotten everything I want -- my wants are ever-changing -- but one of the most perfect moments recently was me sitting in the swimming pool eating a jalapeno popper cheeseburger and sipping wine from a plastic glass (stemmed, of course) with my fella and my youngest kid. I am so grateful that there have been far too many other perfect moments to mention.
My favorite horse belonged to a childhood friend who lived on a working farm that dated back to pre-Revolutionary War times. We never bothered to saddle the horses, just climbed on, and this particular one, Jesse, liked to try to scrape me off against fences and trees.
I can see you and Jesse now, Brynnetania, on a fast gallop----you holding a plastic glass of wine in one hand----- your fella, on Golden Tempo, behind you, eating YOUR cheeseburger.
No such time in my life. Not ever having it all but some things made it all worthwhile. . .
That sums it up pretty dang marvelously, Made!
Nailed it!