A Good Life
By Kristen Burkett
After several great careers, raising a beautiful family and burying a beloved wife, I thought I would head into retirement and enjoy the ‘good life.’ I had spent nine years as a US Naval Aviator, following that with a career at General Motors representing all of their North American product sales outside of the country. Living abroad for most of my life in different countries, I was finally back home in the United States with my wife and partner of nine years.
We both had many ties to the Michigan Area, but decided to enjoy our senior years in Arizona, the land of wonderful retirement communities and endless golf-courses. We chose a spacious, bright home on one of these courses and filled it with all of our memorabilia from our many travels. Life was good, at first. My wife and I both became active in our local Recreation Center and it was here that my wife met a woman who had a few horses and boarded them at a nearby stable.
She began going with her new friend out to the stable everyday after gym. This was not a new-found passion for her, but one she had rediscovered. In her previous marriage, she had owned a string of Morgan show-horses and she had raised her two sons in this loving, horse environment. She still owned one horse, which she kept leased out to a trusted trainer back East. We talked about it and decided that we would bring this horse to Arizona for my wife to again enjoy.
Meanwhile, my wife went to the stable so often I decided if I wanted to continue to be a part of her life, I should go see just what this was all about. I began going every morning and soon, every evening also. This was actually a welcome change from what my life had become. In my business life, I had many responsibilities, as well as doing the best job I could raising my children. Suddenly, there was nothing to get me up in the morning, nobody really needed me. So, up I got and out to the stable we went.
It wasn’t long before our one horse turned into two more. Now we had three horses whose complete well-being depended upon my wife and I. We spent so much time driving to the stable twice a day, and worrying whenever the weather changed or one of the horses looked ‘funny’, that we decided to sell our ‘retirement’ home, and move to the country!
We soon found two irrigated acres not far from where the horses were stabled. Months of perusing house and barn plans followed until finally, ground was broken. Nothing was left out where the horses were concerned, beautiful barn with grooming and wash areas, green pastures and arenas to exercise them in. All of this was of course to care for these beautiful creatures that had won my heart.
To say that my children were worried is putting it mildly. Here they thought Dad was finally slowing down and enjoying life. Instead, he was trying to ride and handle a 1200 pound animal that could do real damage to anybody. What they didn’t realize is life had become a sterile, sedentary trap with hours of mundane listlessness to pass every day. I could feel the energy draining away, helpless to stop it. The horses have given my life meaning again. As a child I had dreamed of owning a horse after riding one at camp, but that was fantasy, and life happened instead. Now, here I was, almost 70, taking riding lessons and showing in horse shows with my new partner, a big, buckskin quarter-horse gelding.
There is much to be done around this little ranch every day. My wife and I are the sole caretakers for these wonderful beasts. We feed, water, muck and bed down stalls twice a day, along with daily exercise and grooming. Instead of procrastinating about getting out of bed every morning, I know I am letting a few good horses down while I lay there. I look forward to my mornings and the friendly greetings that I am guaranteed of. I have more energy and flexibility, and upon a recent visit by one of my sons, I was told the children have noticed a change in me. I am more positive and enthusiastic about life again. My weight has been easier to control because of all the activity and I feel I have Gained years back. Having this interest has made life interesting again. I notice birds more, and I love other people’s animals now, not just mine. There is a spark in my marriage again because of this interest that we share so thoroughly, and life couldn’t be better.
