Memoir from the past

I were enjoying my morning coffee the other day, when I looked out the window and saw some kids running around in the street pretending to ride a horse on a broom stick.

This reminded me of a peticular episode from when I were 12 years old. 

It was an early morning in the end of spring. I were out playing with me friends on the playing ground, where i saw here for the first time. 

Her name was Isabelle and her parents were seperated. She lived with her mom in Manchester, but were here for the weekend, visiting her newly moved in dad. 

I noticed her when I were sitting on the swing and as she slowly came closer to the playing ground. She didn't notice me in the begining. Her eyes were on the boys playing soccer, but suddently she turned her head to my direction, and as we got eyecontact. She smiled and went to the swings.

"Why are you not playing football, with the other guys?", she asked!

"I suck at football! My feet are wrongly putted together." I said with a smile.

"So you're just gonna sit on the swing the whole day, then!" She replied.

"No, I'm just killing some time before noon. Then I can go play with me best friend Bernard." I said proudly.

"Who is Bernard?" She asked couriosly.

Then i started to tell her about my horse Bernard. Even though she didn't agree with me that it was the most lovely horse name, we could both agree that horses were the most beautiful being in the entire world. 

Time was flying by and even though we had sit on the swings for hours, it only seemed like minutes. We both shared the same passion for horses wheither is was horse racing, horse jumping, horse training or horse games. We were talking about a lot of horse facts, at some point it almost seemed magical and that we were actualy living in our imaginary horse world.

I can remember that i assured her that Bernard was THE dream horse. She didn't believe me, so I invited her to join me, the same noon to visit Bernard. 

First she had to ask her dad, if she could come along. Our time in the swing ended here. We ran to her house to ask for her dads permission. 

I remember that their house looked just like mine, just with way less furnitures. In the kitchen stod her dad. A late thirties man, unshaved but with a friendly face. 

"Who is your new friend, Isabelle?" He said, with the most friendly smile. 

Isabelle introduced me to her dad. He offered us a soda and while we were sitting in the kitchen and drinking, he was asking talking joyfully about his time as equestrian. 

He talked about his old days, when he was i kid like us, where he was helping out in the stables, cleaning the saddlery and making up some pony games. I was all very inspiring and fun to listen to. It seems like he new all about horses.

I remember that i was first at this point that i noticed all the horse pictures there were hanging on the walls. The house was almost like a full horse gallery! After our soda we went in to the living room where he showed us some old equestrian video. Back then I didn't know what the equestrian meaning or rather the equestrian definition was, so all her dad's stories helped me to get an explaination of this.

After the equestrian video her dad agrees upon Isabelle went with me to the barns and visit my pony Bernard, with the words "Now it is the time for you youngsters to go out to live your horse live."

As we arrived to the barns, she immediately noticed Bernard. She find him as the cutest pony in the stables. And after a prober groom, we saddle up and went out for a ride. The was a few arabian horses in the stables, and Isabelle was allowed to ride one. It was one of the most fun day of my life. I have finaly found a person in the same age, that lived nearby, who shared the same interest for horses, as I did. 

The afternoon was fastly passing by and the evening was about to start, before we realized that i was time to go home for dinner. 

Before heading home, we asked the owner of the stables of Isabelle could join the pony club, which was the case. 

After dinner I asked my mom if i could go to Isabelle's house to play. She agreed upon this and I was already half way out of the door, when she agreed. I ran to Isabelle's house and we spend the whole evening talking about horses. In some occasions her dad overlistened to our conversation and helped us clearify some of our jibberish horse facts. 

The following year the bond between Isabelle and me grow stronger, as she visited her dad every second week. All the time she was at her dad's were spended in my company. Either in one of our houses or mostly in the barns. 

It was also in one of our many sleep overs that i kissed a girl for the first time. 

It was a saturday and we had spend the whole day on the barns, as usual. At night we had planned to sleep at her place to watch the horse whispere. I clearly remember her head laying on my thights during most of the movie, when suddently she raised her head. She looked me deeply in the eyes and told me to shut them. I weren't sure of what was happening before i could feel here soft lips on mine. 

To the opposite of what some might think, this did not make it akward at all. In fact it bonded us even closer. Beside from our commen interest in horses, we actually enjoyed each others company quit a lot. 

The rest of the night we spend in each others arm. We were talking about our commen hourse dreams. To have our own barns together. To be horse breeders, breed premier equine and breed thoroughbred horses. Where the ideal horse stable should be placed. She knew a place near Manchester that would be perfect for this.

After this, we spend a lot of time dreaming together of our perfect horse world. But sadly every good things always have an end. 

As i mentioned in my earlier blog, my dad got a new job in another town, far away. So we had to move to another city. I took very hard on me to say good bye to both Bernard and Isabelle. And as time pass by, I still not can't forget my first kiss and Isabelle.

I saw Isabelle again fifteen years later in an equestrian center, to some kind of horse eventing and i felt sad about that we had gone on to live our seperate lives. Still to the day today I sometimes imagine what whould had happened if our path didn't went seperate ways. I still see her sometimes, since we are in the same horse community and we still catch up and talks like the old days. It always left me with the feeling with what-if...!