The Wild Montana
By Drea B
In my life I was being a dutiful career minded
employee and civic volunteer. I was pretty
caught up in the “should do” fast lane of
proving, pleasing and performing in many
aspects of it to meet real or perceived
expectations from others. In that pursuit, I
stopped hearing my own voice.
Now after nearly thirty years in non-profit
business management, consulting, and human
resources, I am on the other side of a mid-life
reinvention that was the result of remembering
the woman I had lost somewhere along my
life’s path. It began happening shortly after I
unexpectedly brought horses back in to my life
after a long absence without them. Only then
did I realize how much I had lost and how
much I had missed them.
Horses had not entered my mind until my sister forwarded me a link about some horses,
one named Montana, waiting for a new life at
a local shelter. What a powerful metaphor for
what was about to happen to me. And it all
happened so fast. One of those life experiences
where following and trusting the new course
of my life river, even though it was scary,
seemed out of the blue crazy, with more
questions than answers was, surprisingly,
easier than stepping back into the “good girl
should do” life I had been living. I am so
grateful that I had the courage in those
moments to walk through those doors. Not a
day goes by that I am not grateful for the
horses that came back into my life and helped
prepare me for my future, remarkable one.