Sadness

Well, I'm not going to say much here except that today is a sad day. My Grandma passed away yesterday, it was not really expected. She had open heart surgery about 2 months ago and has had up and down complications since then.

I was lucky enough to see her on Thursday when she was back in the hospital, but she seemed to be on an upswing and I thought she'd be out of hospital within a week. I'm so glad I was able to see her and have a nice visit.

So, this was a pretty big blow, and I'm pretty upset. It sucks that I've lost both of my grandmothers this year, I was very close to them and there is now a big hole in me.

Erin

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! Hopefully this will be a place where I can track my exploits as a working student, keep my family and friends up to speed on what's happening with me and journal my training and riding progress. Or, maybe it will simply end up being a little diary to myself...we shall see!

I'll do a more full background later, but here are the basics...I am an Air Force reservist who worked full time as an Airfield Operations Officer for the last 8 years. I've been riding for 23 years and have wanted to work professionally in horses since I can remember. So, I finally decided to bite the bullet and start applying for Working Student positions for the six months from May-November of this year.

I am so very fortunate to be in the position to do this since I have the world's most supportive husband who not only makes enough money to cover our living expenses but also generously agreed to let me abandon him for 6 months and pursue my dream! Thanks Baby! I had lots of doubts and worries before I finally made the decision to come here about leaving my good job that I enjoyed (with its nice salary), but I really think I made the right decision to follow my dream and hopefully turn that into a new career doing the thing I love most.

So...after several interviews and dozens of emails, I arrived here in Florida on Friday! With my wonderful horse Mari in tow, and most of my portable possessions in my truck and trailer, we made the 16 (18 in reality) hour drive from New Jersey to North Florida! I am still getting settled in and finding my groove, but so far I am LOVING it!

I'm hoping to get this blog updated several times a week...please feel free to comment and/or ask me questions. I've never blogged before, so all input is welcome!

Erin and Mari