Getting Back to "Normal"

We're moving our barn practice to Moorpark on Saturday, and I can't wait to get it all done and get back to "normal" life.

I work a day job for 40 hours a week, and my daughter and I work our horse business the rest of the time, so my week routinely ends up at 75 or 80 hours of time spent doing something that is not at home. The day job is on someone else's dime (as it were), but the horse business is a labor of love. I started riding when I was six years old and I have the horse "gene". No matter where I've gone or what I've done over the course of my life, I've always ridden and trained horses. It's a happy coincidence that my daughter is also a horse fanatic, to the point that she wants to ride for a living and has aspirations to compete in the Olympics and other world-class equestrian events. Consequently, we work that much harder at all our horse endeavors, but it takes up the vast majority of the time that isn't spent at work or school.

I'm not complaining about the amount of time we work, as neither of us sits around well, but we have had a great routine for a long time, and the activity and upheaval of the last eight months has definitely thrown a monkey wrench into the works. The facility we're leaving has had a lot of problems, and we've been pulled into the drama over and over again. This, in turn, has thrown our usual routine and horse income into complete disarray. I'm sick of it and ready to leave the chaos behind. To return to "normal".

Since E (my daughter) was born, I've tried to make a concerted effort to keep our lives on a plain simple track. I grew up with a dad who was in the military, and the moving and re-establishing of my life every three years while growing up was not fun for me. So we've lived in the same place for 16 years. E has gone to the same school since first grade, and will be a senior this coming September. I've had the same day job for 10 years. Being the control freak that I am, these things have become something that I depend on a great deal. So when a large area of my life spins out of control, it makes me crazy. (Short trip, I know...)

In 2006, there was a one week period in my life where my car transmission died, my dad died, and my kid ended up in the emergency room (while I was out of town at my dad's funeral). One month later our best-loved pony had an $8500 emergency surgery. Let's just say that this was a control freak's worst nightmare, and it was brought home to me in spades how much I craved a "normal" boring life. Fortunately, the current barn situation and the moving of our horse business pales in comparison to 2006, but it still makes me just a little nuts.

I know in November, I'll look back at the summer and think what a crazy time it was and how nice it is that things are back to normal. But I feel like a kid who's waiting for the best vacation ever: six more days, five more days, four more days... The countdown to getting everything done is excrutiating. I've really tried to stop wishing my life away, but August 1st can't get here soon enough for me.