Once in a Lifetime

[lilhorseladie]

Top on my list is watching my son graduate dispite a rough life.

Second is spending 32 days on a semi with my hubby and three year old and seeing 21 states. It is more fun than it sounds. Believe me.

 

[CyndiM]

Wow Some of you have done some amazing things. I'll try to list my most memorable.

Was in the homecoming court.

Gave birth to three wonderful children.

Divorced their dad.

learned to drive an 18 wheeler.

Used to ride on Route 66 when we traveled to IN from CA and back as a teenager.

Have visited almost all of the national parks west of the Mississippi.

Married the love of my life.

Cared for my mother in her last months of life, lost my father 11months and 4 days later. Lost my oldest sister 4 days before the second anniversary of my mother's death.

Went to Sturgis for the 2000 rally. That was different.

Got my first mini.

Rode on a long horn cattle drive (just a few weeks ago) that was something I have always wanted to do.

And the best I saved for last!!

[SIZE=14pt]I got to go to TN and meet Marty!!! [/SIZE]

I just hope that isn't the last time I get to visit her and her family.

 

[minisaremighty]

This is a very interesting thread!

Very thought provoking. At first I couldn't think of anything, but I did come up with a few:

-Traveled the US with my parents as a child

-Went to the World's Fair held in Vancouver BC in 1986 (just graduated from high school and was a present to myself, my first trip as an "adult")

-married the love of my life

-Traveled to Arizona to purchase awesome native american jewelry for the museum store I worked in

-Was pregnant 5 times, resulting in 3 beautiful girls

There are a few other things if I had time to think more about it. I've enjoyed reading everybody's posts!!

 

[shane]

FELL IN LOVE........WITH A MINI HORSE LOL GOT ON A BUCKING BRONKO NOW THAT WAS ONCE IN A LIFETIME NEVER AGAIN LOL seriously though,had a beautiful daughter grow up,i never thought id see that!

fell in love and got married to someone that excepts me for me, and even supports my love of minis, im going to keep him! stopped smoking! need to start drinking lol

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

Lessee.....

Rode a Freisian stallion. Yowzers.......

Saw Haley's Comet.

Had the inaugral (spelling?) voyage on The Magestic, Pittsburgh's newest riverboat.

Been to the first BreyerFest, and the latest one, and all the ones in between, every year for 16 years..... and winning TWO raffle models!

Got to help sell over 400 absolutely stunning Breyer horses from a lady's collection that included over 200 one-of-a-kind pieces, and being able to buy several of those models. THAT is probably my best once-in-a-lifetime memory, modelwise..... *sigh*......

Seeing the terracotta figures from China at the Kentucky Horse Park several years ago.

Seeing the Stubbs exhibit this year. Whistlejacket Need I say more?

Being there for the births of my foals, especially the three red bags. All survived!!!

Moving to Texas.

Lucy

 

[wcr]

I have had the most incredible life it is hard to figure out what to write. The best part is that I am getting my second wind and starting new and exciting adventures.

I sailed the South Pacific on a 37 ft boat.

Hitchhiked through New Zealand and ended up married to a Kiwi.

Have traveled extensively throughout the world.

Took a year off and went to Alaska, Yukon, across Canada and into Us, down to Mexico and around Baja.

I chased my life's dream of having a top horse ranch and really accomplishing something with my horses.

I have had 3 very interesting careers one of which was in theater and movies.

But one of the most incredible once in a lifetime experiences I have had are meeting the people who have become my friends, be it for an hour, day or lifetime.

 

[Sunny]

This has to be THE most interesting thread I've ever read on here!! Thank you so much for starting it!

Let's see...... My mother was pregnant with me when the family escaped the Russians in the Hungarian revolution of 1956, spent three months in a refugee camp in Holland, and then finally arrived safely in Canada. I was born four months later.

When I was 16, I went with my dad and his wife back to Hungary. It was Dad's first visit since he left, and he was very nervous. Went to see the house he lived in as a child and the ring where he had his riding lessons for seven years before he was ever allowed to ride outside of it (can you imagine?! there's way more to that story!). It was a bittersweet experience since the Russians had changed everything so much and my Dad was so terribly sad and angry about it, but at least I got to see the house and village where he lived.

When I was 20, I went to work for a Standardbred farm here in Ontario, and spent the winters in Florida. I spent two and a half years with the race horses, spending winters in Florida and the summers in the Pocono Mountains, then Scioto Downs in Columbus OH, then on to Chicago for a while and south to Kentucky when the horse I was looking after broke down.... I worked for some of the top names in the business (I was a groom, not a trainer or anything) such as Stanley Dancer, Billy Haughton, George Sholty, etc. It was definitely the very best time of my whole life!!!! The first fall, when we were leaving Dancer's place in NJ to head to Florida, I had my own car and all of us were instructed to drive straight down to Pompano, no stops, and we had to be there before the horses arrived. I was with a few other grooms and we had two vehicles, and we decided to stop in Washington DC on the way down. It was absolutely gorgeous! We soon lost our friends in the other car and after looking for them for an hour or more, we decided we'd better just go. Friday afternoon rush hour..... we were pretty late getting to Pompano and someone else had to look after my horses, so I was docked a half day's pay. Big whoop. It's the only time I've been to Washington and it was sooo worth it!

My second wedding was on horseback! I rode my dear half Arab mare who is now 22 and was only 2 months old when I bought her, and my husband rode my mare's three year old filly. It was fabulous.

The very best thing in my life, of course, was the birth of our daughter nearly 10 years ago. Need I say more?!

And since we've been in the minis, I've enjoyed my first National Top 10 (with another one since) and my first Hall of Fame (with a second one this year), and my first Nationals. As long as I live, I'll never forget the excitement and the feelings I had when we arrived late in the evening and I opened the big double doors to the arena, and ...... there it was!! Just like I had seen in the videos....... that memory can still bring tears of joy to my eyes!

I was with my mother when she passed away. I held one hand, and my brother held the other. More tears. Not joyful.

Oh I think I could write volumes here! I have been sooooo very blessed in my life with so many wonderful experiences, travels and, of course, dear friends and family and excellent health. God willing, there will be many more years yet to come.

 

[RJRMINIS]

Wow...This is neat!

Was in a car accident, rollover in high school, scared the crap out of me, I wan't driving and thankfully no one was hurt.

My dad and grandparents were kidnapped and held at gunpoint, along with a state trooper by escaped convicts in the 80's they tied them all up face down on the bed at my grandparents farm, and stole their car, thankfully no one was hurt, they cut the phone lines, and my dad got loose and went to the neighbors to call for help. Scared them & us to death!

Fell off a hay trailer, and almost got ran over, my brother saved my life.

Was Homecoming Queen Senior year.

Got married to my high school sweatheart, ended in divorce....Looking back Thank god!!!LOL Was pregnant, but miscarried.

Went to Arizona for 1 week on a round trip plane ticket from a man I had met once on a blind date!LOL CRAZY!!

Went to the Cayman Islands for 10 days!!!! COOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!

Met the man of my dreams, he raised exotic animals, we got married, we had tigers, baboons, lions, bears, you name it!!!!

Still married to the man of my dreams!!!!

No longer raise the exotics, but now we have miniature horses, donkeys, llamas, etc.

Had a beautiful little girl, being pregnant with her and giving birth was a once in a lifetime experience!!!!!!!! ........ at 18 months old found out she had cancer, fought for a year to save her life, After chemo, surgery, radiation, stem cell transplant and monoclonal antibodies.....................She is now 7 1/2 and very healthy!!!!!!!!!!That is one experience I can say made us all grow closer, but hope that was a once in a lifetime experience, cause I don't think I could handle that again! Also rode in a helicopter for the first time, but under the circumstances it wasn't much fun/Life flight.

Had to endure many funerals of children we had become very close with in the hospital with my daughter, being on the same hospital floor the parents all were there for each other, supporting, comforting.......Watching parents who became our friends, along side of us fight for their children's lives and see there babies not make it, to have to comfort them when they are holding their babies in their arms for the last time....OMG that was a lifetime experience, the saddest one.

I can't imagine having to say that final goodbye.....I thank god each and everyday that I didn't have to say goodbye to my child.

Delivering foals, has got to be one of the highlights of my life, each one is something special!!!

Had to be the one to tell my mom her brother had died unexpectantly, due to drowning at the lake, she was out of town and I had to call her and tell her, that is the one of the most heart wrenching things I had to do.

So many good and bad lifetime experiences, so many more to come....hopefully more good than bad!!!!

 

[Tobey]

I am just amazed at what some of you have done, and you write that you haven't done much

!! Great thread!!

Let's see...I'd have to say the biggest once in a lifetime experience (I hope no one has to go through) is having my first born kidnapped by his father. He no longer had control over me so he took my son to try to control me into coming back--bad, bad situation. The police were involved and didn't do a darn thing, small town and they didn't want to do much about it. My phone had a trace on it and the police lied about where the calls were coming from . Anyway I tracked them by credit card (thank God I knew the password) and they were in the next state over. I called the police in that state and they went and picked them up.

That was enough excitment for me for a lifetime.

Moved on to marrying my best friend and love of my life. He adopted my son and we had two more beautiful children.

We haven't traveled much except out west (my mom lives in Wyoming) where we've seen the usual Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, Wall Drug LOL but I've done some not so usual things out there like: dug for crystals on a mountain top, seen actual dinosaur track on the ground (fossilized of course), went arrowhead hunting and found one, and seen Indian writing on cave walls.

 

[The Dynamic Duo]

i'd have to say.....

my list:

broke my arm

me and my freind were at wrestling practice and we were messing around and his head broke my arm. there was an imprint in my bone

my sad story:

before i was born my parents were not married and they almost aborted me when i was in her stomach

 

[CharmedMinis]

I'd have to say the best thing was my trip to New Jersey to pick up my stallion back in 2003.

10 days, 7500 miles, 21 states, with my best friend Erika with me.

Met a ton of awesome people, and went to New York City for a day!!! I never thought I would go to NY City, so that was very exciting..........plus we took a carriage ride through Central Park

Went into Saks Fifth Avenue, saw Tiffany's, ate at the Carnegie Deli, etc., etc...............

I also worked on a sheep/horse ranch north of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Absolutely gorgeous place and I could have happily lived out my life there. Unfortunately the people were horrible and I only stayed 3 weeks.

I've also been on uncountable white water river trips that are never forgetable. My parents are avid rafters and they had me in a raft before I could walk. So I'm lucky enough to say that I have seen so many beautiful sights in my 24 years that if I went blind right now, I have enough memories to last me a lifetime.