Hey y’all!

I know, long time no update. And for that, I am truly sorry! I swear I have a pretty good excuse!

In August I had a laparoscopic procedure done for endometriosis. Recovery was supposed to be pretty easy, so I booked myself pretty solid about two weeks after the surgery (big mistake! Totally overwhelmed myself and have been playing catch up since!). However recovery was much rougher than expected as they did a lot of work on me. Turns out I have a pretty serious case of endometriosis. It has fused some of my organs together and is all over my pelvic cavity. It is a very painful, very unpredictable disease that causes so many complications. But at least we have answers!

Apparently when waking up from surgery I thought Athena had kicked me! I kept saying “Athena kicked me in my belly!” and the nurses asked “who’s Athena?” And I replied “my horse!”. They all start laughing and asked me questions. Apparently I was talking to Athena, telling her she is so pretty and such a good girl. I was trying to hug and kiss her too.  When I finally woke up everyone told me I had to show some pictures of the horse I thought I was hugging and loving all over. So funny!

Unfortunately I wasn’t supposed to ride for a month. I was at the barn the day after surgery, just to sit in the stall with Athena and visit her.  I wasn’t allowed to carry anything or do much, but thankfully I have friends at the barn who helped me. Athena was so very sweet and gentle with me. She even stopped to smell my belly several times, almost exclaiming “what happened here?”. Horses are so intuitive.

You know that whole no riding thing? Yea, I lasted 6 days. Oops! After day six I sat on Athena while she was munching on hay in her stall. I was feeling really down and really upset about so many things, but sitting on her really helped. I saw her everyday. I brushed her, we went on walks. It was truly the highlight of those days after my surgery.

My amazing trainer kept Athena in shape while I was recovering. It was amazing to see Athena in action. Thankfully after three weeks after my surgery I was able to start riding full time again.

Around mid August I was picking up work again. I was trying to save every penny I could for Pinto Worlds, and went back to work a little earlier than I should have. I was very overwhelmed with so much, especially trying to save for Pinto Worlds. You never know your income with owning a business and I stressed myself out worrying I wouldn’t be able to save enough. I prayed really hard for an answer at church that Sunday.

And then a real life miracle happened.