I have a patchy horse called Merc who is a truly excellent person. Today’s Small Happiness could be about him alone- after all, what better happiness is there than to have horses grazing in your paddock- but instead we shall discuss how Merc scooped me up and carried me right through a magic portal.
Let me paint for you the picture. The day was sunny and I decided that we would ride around the farm. There’s a field down the back that we refer to as The Flats. It’s not completely flat, but it’s flatter than all the fields around, which are hilly and quite bumpy, and because we are creative, that is how she got her name.
For the most part, the ground underfoot is greasy and we mainly walk around, but today, it was dry enough to frolic.
We trotted here, and cantered there, making loops and swirls of no particular design and I found I was transported. I used to ride on grass when I was little, a feisty girl who played a lot with horses.
At the shows I attended, a world that feels both distant and quite close in a way something old but familiar does, we would ponce and strut and I would be the Proudest Girl In The World as I rode my horse.
My body flooded with the feeling. My whole being rearranged herself to bring forward Little Me from a different place and time.
And I was reminded, of all the people that we carry round inside us. Different versions of ourselves stacked up like tiny dolls, released a constellation of feelings or sounds or smells that fill the air like a strong and intoxicating perfume.
I rode and the Little Me with me. Enjoying the sun and our horse, and all of those we’d loved who’d come before.
My #6 Small Happinesses is to welcome and unexpected memories.