It was a beautiful day, sunny day that was warm but not hot. Dad and I had loaded two horses into the trailer and were on our way to a favorite trial head. It was a picture-perfect day for trail riding. Before we left the farm, I did a quick prayer for protection. After all of these years I still get nervous when we haul horses in what I call the Taj Mah-trailer.
We have traveled this route to the trial head hundreds of times, but for whatever reason on this day, Dad did not make the left turn wide enough to clear the curb. I heard a loud POP and looked out the mirror to see a deflating tire with rubber flapping. This is bad.
We were pulling into town and only had to make it a few hundred yards to one of our regular stops, the Minut Mart. I remember telling him, “this is a bad thing, but it happened in the best possible place.” I think Dad’s response was “hmph.”
We pulled in and started working as a team. I dropped the windows to help keep the boys in the trailer cool and grabbed the planks of wood in the back the truck. Dad stacked the wood under the back tire of the trailer. I directed him as he backed up onto the planks to raise the torn tire off the ground. Turns out we were a few planks short.
I called a friend that lives near by and told her what we needed. She would be on her ASAP. While we waited a couple of tailers hauling farm equipment pulled into the lot. Dad approached one man who quickly gave us additional planks. Another man came over and took over loosening the lug nuts so the tire did not spin once it was elevated.
The tire was all but changed when my friend arrived. She knew the men who had helped us. Dad offered each man some money, but they refused. He offered to buy them a Coke, but they also refused. It’s the way of the boondocks. You help people, particularly those hauling animals. Dad and I have helped folks in the same situation in the past.
We had a really good ride and uneventful trip back to the farm.
I feel certain that the torn tire was another sign. My parents are getting older and I am trying to do all I can to help. We are talking about the changes that are to come and that none of us can control. Nor can we control the timeline, but one day I will be spending more time at the farm to care for parents and horses.
I feel that I was shown that though bad things happen, there is help around me and may parents. We’ll be ok.
Abundance flows to and through me. Love flows to and through me.
The Yoga Cowgirl 
Aging with grace is our gift and our challenge. My mother will be 85 next week and watching her change has been, at times, difficult. Facing some of my own challenges with a body that is in its 60s, I have begun to see and experience the differences in what I can do now and what is more of a risk, which wasn’t a big deal when I was half my age. Sending blessings of love, acceptance, and grace as you and your parents navigate the road ahead.
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Beautiful comment, thank you.
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That photo of your Dad on the horse got me a little misty over here. Enjoy 🙂
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Peace friend
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Beautiful story! Yes, you will definitely be okay. Because you create love and abundance in others in so many way (like by writing this post) and it does flow back to you. Thanks for sharing, Sarah!
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Thank yoy
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Yes you will be okay I absolutely love the fact that there were helpers. Even more so that they helped without expecting anything in return such a blessing. One can easily see that you will be more than ready when it times for you to spend more time at the farm stay blessed Sarah.
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Thank you for you wonderful comment.
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I have a good feeling for your life too – I sense a strong trust in your spirit – you will attractgood helpers always I believe so.
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What a wonderful comment, thank you.
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How wonderful your dad and you share trail riding. You both got through the day with an inconvenience but moved on with grace. You found the blessing in something that might have ruined somebody else’s day or week.
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Yes, all was well! Thank you.
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This is a beautiful post. In my experience, watching, then helping, your parents age is difficult but ultimately a gift. I’m glad helpful people showed up at the right time and that you followed through with your plan for the day. Things can, and do, work out for the best when you let them.
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Yes! Thank you
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I laughed at myself for my first response to your title. Suddenly, I was in 7th grade, shopping for my first pair of “dress flats” to go with a party dress.
Your kind of flat was less exciting and somewhat more traumatic, but it didn’t deflate you. The number of bumps in the road I encountered while my own mother aged were numerous, and more or less difficult to deal with. But deal we did, and one of the things we learned is that we both were more adaptable than we’d realized. Patience came harder, but it came — and there were people along the way who helped us while we were developing it. With their help, we traveled a lot of happy trails until the end.
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Beautiful story! Kindness is contagious and we are grateful for how easily it spreads. The eldercare years were difficult for me but the abundance of help and love I received got me through it and so it was a blessing to be there for my loved ones. May you be blessed on this journey, Sarah.
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Back in the Midwest this summer, land of my heart, I too was met the realization that back here people, even strangers, see a need, and they help each other. Period. Lovely story and pictures. Thank you.
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Thank yiu
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