Amy Lilley Designs: Mischievous Missy

I love it when a friend asks something of you and there is no hesitation, no thought, just an immediate response of 'YES, of course!' I received an email a few weeks back from my friend Janet asking me if someone they love very much could stay with us for a couple of days as she was passing through Denver. There it was, no hesitation, no thought, just an immediate, 'YES, of course!.' Well, fast forward to last Wednesday, when the lovely, Audra, showed up @ our front door. She has been on a cross-country adventure for the past two months and having quite the life experience for a 22 year old! We are now, part of her story, as she is of ours, and I venture to say, for the rest of both of our respective lives. I say it often, on Facebook, 'Come, I will feed you!' Well, our new sweet friend loves to eat, so it has been joy and a delight to feed her. We even made pasta together! She was so excited to learn 'how to', and then of course, knowing that there was food @ the end of the process was a huge thrill for her. It is clear, this has been a good visit. Audra has had, even as I write, some very important family time here as well. She has summited a mountain of 14,000 feet, she has made pasta for the first time and we went horseback riding together. The 12 Mile Stables, which I blogged about last year @ this time, came up in conversation, and lo and behold, she wanted to get up on one of those horses, as did I, so, on Sunday, off we rode into the sunset.

My horse, named Missy, turned out to be very very mischievous, as she kept on insisting on going off the 'assigned' path to grab large mouth fulls of greenery. I just did not have the strength to yank her very stubborn self back. As it turns out, it was quite humorous, and she was such a sweet girl. It seems that part of the reason why she was able to 'get away' w/ such behavior, was that my saddle was not in the center. I was leaning to the left, so no matter how hard I tried, Missy had the upper hand, and clearly she knew it. By the end of the ride through our Cherry Creek State Park, I was practically holding on for dear life as the saddle had slipped so far to the left!! Audra and her horse, named Kat, were riding behind me, so Audra had a good laugh or 10, watching me try to do the impossible!! We had so much fun, came home, made the pasta from the dough we had prepared earlier, and thankfully, neither of us was too sore the next day.

So, thank you Janet, for asking us to let Audra stay with us for a couple of days, which has now turned into almost a week. As a Family, we all have a new friend for life, and it is no surprise, we love her too!!

'Don't walk behind me; I may not lead.

Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.'

Albert Camus