From the Ground Up

Feels Like That

"Way to go Beckett!" Hunter and I congratulated him on his doubles win at the regional finals. His coach came over and extended a hand.

"Coach Carr," he smiled, "Alexander Carr - I'm Beckett's badminton coach. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Same to you Mister Carr," I reciprocated his greeting and we shook his hand, "we are so happy we could make it today."

Hunter chimed in, "Are there more competitions after this?"

"Yes," the coach smiled, placing a hand on Beckett's shoulder, "doubles has a state championship that will take place next month. Your son is a great sport and wonderful asset to our team." I could tell Beckett was beaming.

"That's amazing Becks," I smiled, and the coach thanked us again for our support before we headed home, "you and Christopher make a really good team. We are so proud."

"Thanks for coming guys," he said, climbing into the back seat of the Range Rover, "whether we win or lose state, can we throw a party? Coach Carr was saying our school junior team has never made it to state before."

"I think that's a great idea." Hunter said and I agreed.

We switched gears from badminton to Easton learning guitar and Sutton spending extra time at the barn to prepare Izzy for the first of the six shows in the spring series.

"Mom you are so good at braiding," she said, shampooing Izzy's white legs, "thank you for helping. I know it must be hard to not be on the horses."

I nodded, focusing in on the elastics and yarn woven around Izzys pretty mane. "I can talk my self out of those feelings. I know if I fall, I could get very hurt. It's not worth getting hurt right now."

"It's been months," Sutton said quietly, her voice drifted off, "I miss riding with you. You're really good."

"Thank you Sutton. I miss it too." I finished the last of my braids and showed Sutton what we would do first thing tomorrow morning, "We just need to bump them," I demonstrated, "we pulled the yarn here and loop it like this. Ta-da!"

"Excellent." Sutton smiled before getting a light sheet to cover Izzy's pristine white hair, "how should we protect her legs over night?"

"Let's double check she has no poop in her stall, Amber said she doesn't lay down a whole lot." I skipped Izzy's stall out before we tucked her in for the night. Sutton gave her a kiss and a cookie before we headed home.

The morning came all too quick as my alarm buzzed at six am. I rolled over to kiss Hunter and snuck out of bed to get Sutton up. To my surprise, she was already downstairs having some breakfast.

"Nerves." She chuckled, "I've been up for a half hour already." I nodded and made myself a cup of coffee and some toast. Hunter and the boys were going to meet us at the barn later on, so Sutton and I headed out and got a treat at Starbucks before making our way in.

"Thank heavens, her legs are perfect," I said, walking Izzy out of her stall, "did you want to try and do the braids?"

"Sure," Sutton smiled, "does that mean you're gonna braid the tail?" Her blue eyes were wide with excitement. I nodded, agreeing to do a traditional braid for Izzy's extraordinarily lush tail.