Sunday, August 28, 2005

Horse Whispering

When I was a few years old, I grew up in a farm in Zamboanga City (located at the southernmost tip of Mindanao). We lived humbly in a house made of plywood and would pick our own vegetables from our backyard, and drink milk from our goats. I was only between 3 or 4, but I vividly remember sitting by our window, watching a tiny raincloud draw itself closer to where I was before it even soaked our roof wet. It was my first encounter with rainclouds, and the science behind it. Amazing.

We owned a horse and named him Silver. He does not possess any kind of silvery patch or color, but we got his name from the Lone Ranger's ever-famous song (Hi ho Silver, away!!!). Cheesy, huh? I would ride his back carefully, with my dad guiding me from behind, and I would muster up enough courage to go another mile at 5mph.

I loved horses - I still do. Despite the couple of times I rode them at 18mph and fell off, or got stuck in little tree branches, or despite getting bruises and cuts wearing uncomfortable riding boots. If I wasn't in New York City, taking up graduate school, and if we never moved to cosmo Manila, I might have taken up a minor in Equine Psychology and mastered the art of milking goats and growing cabbage.

This little business card I found at a cork board inside a restaurant somewhere in the West made me backtrack and think about the "what if's" of my life. Of course, I know this path is left inside my "might have been but would have been fun and interesting" folder.
You whisper to horses? How cool (or freaky?) is that!

1 comment:

asphaire 許泰莎 said...

I never knew you grew up in Zamboanga and rode horses!!!