A Fresh Start

Note from Mrs. M. Andi’s Journal is starting up again. It will be a mixture of new entries and old entries (as I move them over from Blogger).

Find more journal entries in Andi’s Attic >>

January 2, 1882

My journal entries really begin on this wintery day while I was sitting in Taffy’s stall waiting for her to drop her foal. “I am sitting in the foaling stall with Taffy . . .” were the first words I wrote in the spanking new journal Melinda gave me for a Christmas gift. Since then, I’ve filled a dozen more journals, which is a joke on me. Deep inside, I never wanted to share my thoughts. However, the years it’s become second nature. I keep my old journals tied up with a ribbon at the bottom of my trunk in my new home on Memory Creek ranch. If God grants me a daughter or two, I’m sure they’ll love rummaging through the stack of quickly yellowing pages.

Andi’s Journal will be a slice of everyday life, special events, even some surprising or frightening events because life is filled with all of those and more. Also, my journal entries will not necessarily be posted in chronological order. I will try to remember a date, but sometimes I might want to record something I remembered from the past.

June 30, 1886

I’m skipping ahead and am not going to share all of the entries I wrote between 1882 and 1886. Most of those you can read in my adventures in the Circle C Milestones books. I’m jumping ahead with entries that are not included in the new Tales books either. I’m sure you would like fresh, fun events. On the other hand, Mrs. M is moving (by popular request) most of the old Andi’s journal entries from the old blog. Hence, some may be familiar. I don’t want to lose those delightful older entries in case new readers want to enjoy them. So, please be patient.

Riley and I returned from our scary and exhausting honeymoon adventure getting lost in the wilderness for four days (as told in Yosemite at Last: And Other Tales from Memory Creek Ranch), and of course I loved the new little house I’d never been allowed to see. But I broke out in smiles when I saw his personal wedding gift to me. A brand-new saddle for Shasta! When I saw it, I couldn’t help thinking of my first saddle, the one I got for my ninth birthday, so Taffy and I could be a real horse-and-rider pair at last! (from Saddle Up >>) Sadly, when I lost Taffy a couple of years ago, Chad and Mitch packed away my saddle. I suppose I could have dragged it back out, but it is still hard to think about Taffy’s passing without the tears coming. So, Shasta used some old thing from the tack room. I just never had the heart to go saddle shopping. Good thing too, because our entire family lost all our tack when our barn burned down during the spring of 1885. But that is history . . .

What greeted me when I walked into the barn on our first morning home from Yosemite was the most beautiful saddle I ever saw. Even better than the stars and silver conchos on my birthday saddle. Riley could not have given me a better present. I suppose anybody reading this will laugh at how unromantic a saddle is for a wedding gift, but Riley knows me. Oh, I love that new saddle. I can’t wait to sling it over Shasta’s back and go riding with Riley as soon as I finish up this entry. Chores can wait one more day.