The Rocking Horse Record

A rocking horse sits on my front porch. His matted mane has worn off on one side. White plastic shows through the once black saddle. Recently he has begun to resemble the Skin Horse from the children’s classic The Velveteen Rabbit. This Mother’s Day the horse reminded me of three things. 1) My children have grown up enough to have worn out a rocking horse. 2) They are still too young to let me sell it in a garage sale. 3) My children have always imagined their dreams out in front of the world.

Like Jem and Scout in that other classic story To Kill a Mockingbird when they played the Boo Radley story out on their front porch, my children play “Old Man Hunters” and “Buddy Ball” in front of all the cars on our busy street. Sometimes their excessive imaginations have won them ridicule, but other times they have discovered new friends who wish their own lives could be so free. Maybe these days have lasted longer than expected, like the rocking horse up on the porch. I know they can’t last forever, but I hope my children stay full of joy, imagination and bold authenticity even after the rocking horse gets sold in a garage sale.

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Posted by admin on May 11 2011. Filed under Beth Gulley, Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry