Friday, June 9, 2017

Friday, June 9, 2017

Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2004. We took Mattie to the Outer Banks that summer. This was his second trip to the beach. Regardless, Mattie did not like the water and he was frightened of the crashing surf along the shore. You can see Mattie's displeasure with being by the water and our attempt to take a family photo. 

Despite Mattie's caution about the sea, he did enjoy playing in the sand. Which was a vast improvement from the summer before. What we learned about Mattie was he was going to do things on his own timeline and not that of others. We saw this time and time again whether we were talking about walking, talking, toileting, etc!


Quote of the day: Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind. ~ Seneca

Despite the depressing weather we had for two days, last night a BRIGHT full Mattie Moon came out. The light was so bold, it seemed to cut right through the clouds and rain. Look how it shimmered on the ocean! We could see all of this from our deck. 

When you lose a child to cancer and go on vacation there are a host of emotions that do ensue. I don't care how many years have gone by since the death, there are some things that time doesn't help, heal, or change. 

Vacations are a time in which you see families together, and it is very apparent what is missing. Mattie of course. 

So last night it was rather symbolic that in the midst of our down moments, Mattie Moon would come on the scene to remind us that he is still with us.  

Mattie Moon trying to fight back the clouds and wind. 

It's wonderful to see a Mattie Moon on the ocean. 

Today the sun came back out! Which was truly a wonderful sight after two very depressingly cold and rainy days. We booked tickets to go on a wild horse adventure tour. I have always wanted to do this, since this barrier island is known to house horses that date back 500 years. When the Spanish come to North Carolina to explore and settle, they brought with them Colonial Spanish Mustangs. The only way to see these creatures is by taking a four wheel drive vehicle onto Carova Beach. This beach is literally like a highway on the sand. Traffic goes two ways here and they aren't driving on the sand to just see the horses. There are two communities of houses out here. I can't imagine accessing my home by this journey, but clearly people do it and they have also found a way to co-exist with the wild horses. 

This was the four wheel drive vehicle that took us on tour. It sat 14 people and once on the beach, it drove us 11 miles down the beach and through sand dunes to see these wild creatures. What keeps the horses contained to this horse sanctuary are fences. The horses have gotten used to eating the vegetation along the beach and are unable to digest anything that a typical horse would eat as a treat, like apples, carrots, etc. These horses are considered feral and you have to remain 50 feet away from them, which is challenging if you are a beach goer, because we saw some people getting closer to them to try to get pictures with the horses. 

As soon as the vehicle entered the beach sanctuary, these lovely creatures greeted us!

I learned today that horses live in harems with the male stallion acquires as many female horses into his fold as possible. In this photo, the black horse is the male and the others his females. 

These mustangs are everywhere from the beach to the dunes. Of course our guide did explain that sometimes it is more challenging than others to find these horses when on tour. NOT today, they were out and about. The guide says the horses seek refuge when it rains, so I imagine they were happy the sun was out and they could roam freely today.

More mustangs! There are only 100 mustangs left on the island. 

This male horse was given the nickname, Ringo. After the Beatles, Ringo Star. Notice the white star on his forehead, which is how he got his name! This fellow has quite a reputation with the tour guides and he apparently is known to have the largest harem in the pack. 

More Walk photos! Tonight the photos feature our registration area. We had over 60 volunteers at the Walk to help us manage and run all of our activities. One of the challenging places to work at the Walk is at the registration tent. Our registration volunteers processed 400 of our attendees. My lifetime friend, Karen is on the left. She runs our volunteer check in station at registration which is vital, because these individuals need to be processed into our event and directed to where they will be working. Without our volunteers it would be impossible to host such a large event. 

Herman, our photographer, captured Jane and her son Jake picking up items at registration. Jane is a key member of our Walk committee, a team captain, and one of the handful of people I rely on to increase walk attendance and generate revenue. 

Greeting me at registration was Lexi. Lexi is a college student at Virginia Tech and has been physically ill for a year. I have been trying to help her from afar get back to health. As a thank you for supporting her, she brought me a vase full of sunflowers.

This is David and his daughter. They were first time attendees at our walk. David won the second prize at our corn hole tournament, and I heard they loved our event.  

Two of our volunteers working under the registration tent!