Veterans Day Ride With Grandpop

Howdy Folks,

This is the Sixth in my series of Grandpop stories. I began writing about Grandpop, June 27, 2013, with what at the time I imagined what would be a stand alone short story, "Perhaps I've Just Lived Too Long." You can read that story (and find links to go on) (HERE)   Folks said they enjoy visiting with Grandpop, so I wrote more. Frankly, I enjoy him too. I hope you enjoy this Veterans Day Ride with Grandpop. 

Veterans Day Ride With Grandpop 

I'd missed a few years of Grandpop's Veteran Day rides. Those years when I was all self-assured that whatever I had to do was the most important thing. I'm sorry I missed those years. I'm happy Grandpop waited for me to come to my senses. I'm not sure when he started his daylong treks to the highest point on the ranch, but as long as I could remember, each Veterans Day, he saddled up and rode to the knob of, Rattle Tree Mountain. The view there, among trees misshapen by fierce winter winds of the altitude, went on as far as the eye could reach. And was worth every minute of the three hour ride to get there.

Everyone was welcome to ride along, and some years, back when I was young, we had quiet the caravan of friends, relatives and sometimes strangers. For a few years, after the local newspaper wrote a story about it, folks pitched in a few dollars each to be part of it. Grandpop always gave the money to the local VFW.

We rode pretty much in silence today. Three days ago Grandpop gotten word that his friend Buck Clayton had passed on. They'd served in Germany together, part of what became known as the Battle of the Bulge. I remembered meeting Buck a few times. Once he even joined Grandpop on his Veterans Day ride. I missed that one. "He was a fine man, loved his family, God and country," Grandpop said when he got the news about Buck. "Stood strong to defend them all." He and Grandpop had been together for three of the four years, "over there," as he puts it.

It was just Grandpop and me today, riding through the flats, on up to the foothills and then along the narrow ridge to the bald knob. Some of the mares had followed us for a while down on the flats, their steamy breath floating up and away on the cold air. Grandpop had tied his hat down with a red scarf, covering his ears, neck and most of his face, but I could feel his smile when the lead mare trotted beside his horse stride for stride.

We sat our horses at the edge of the crest on the high knob, wind whipping around us, doing its best to blow us away. Even in the bitter cold it was easy to get lost in the majesty of the view, the place, the meaning. "I suppose God gave us this view, so we could come up here every now and then, and realize how important and beautiful life is. How precious and fragile it is." I remember him telling us as children one Veterans Day decades earlier. I never truly got his meaning until today. Looking out over that splendid vastness sitting beside him on my horse.

I looked at the little flags in his saddlebag and realized for the first time, he was talking about the precious lives so many risk – and loose, assuring that others can live theirs, free and safe.

Grandpop stepped down and planted three small flags in the garden of tattered, faded flags. One for each of his friends, and friends of friends, who had served – and passed since last Veterans Day. For years now Grandpop has been planting flags in the garden honoring servicemen and women. At first it was just a few, close friends he'd known, then as word spread, and especially after the newspaper story, there were many more little tiny flags to raise on the windy mountain knob's flag garden. I heard one year there were 50 riders to the garden, carrying 200 flags. Some mailed flags from as far away as Pennsylvania. Sadly that was one of the years I thought I was too busy to make the journey. In recent years fewer people sent flags. 

I held our horses as Grandpop struggled to push the short stakes in the hard ground. His hands shook, his shoulders quivered as he unfurled each flag. The ride had become tough for him in recent years. I wanted to help, or plant the flags for him, but he'd not hear of it. He spent an hour on his hands and knees straightening the faded, tattered flags, as best he could, then stepped back, stood tall and saluted. He held his salute, his shoulders rocked, tears streamed down his face, and mine.

I rode down the trail ahead of him, as is his way. He always stayed behind a while, a few private moments. I would wait for him at the old camp a mile down the mountain. I paused, turned my horse to look back up to him. Sitting his horse at the edge of the knob, looking out over the land, he made a striking silhouette. My eyes wetted again. Without words, I promised I'd tend his garden … when the day came.

Gitty Up ~ Dutch Henry  

To read the 7th Grandpop story "Christmas and Grandpop" - CLICK HERE

"Feature Friday- Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch"

Howdy Folks,

I had the pleasure and honor of interviewing Troy Meeder co-founder of Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch for a story to be published in my Heartbeats column, in the September issue of Trail Blazer Magazine. Crystal Peaks is a faith based organization located on a tiny ranch near Bend Oregon where discarded but rescued horses help to give troubled youths a new start on life.

 Founded in 1995 by Kim and Troy Meeder, there have been tens of thousands of young lives touched and changed by the gentle ministry. With the help of rescued horses, kind hearts of volunteers and God's love the youths who visit the ranch experience one on one sessions at no charge. The only commitment is that they want to be there.

Over 5,000 visitors a year come for healing. That number includes all family members and that's important for one of the pillars at Crystal Peaks is strengthening the family. Sessions vary from one time visits to children being involved with the ranch for years, and everything in between. Seventy percent come more than once. Most of the youths come often, come for years, as often as they can be fit into the program. The staff is allowed to set up forty percent of their sessions for youths they want to mentor, who need the time, the continued guidance.

When Kim published her first book, "Hope Rising," and Kim and Troy had their first interview with founder of Focus on the Family, Dr. James Dobson's show, Family Talk in 2004, people far and wide began contacting them, explaining that they've always wanted to do something like Crystal Peaks to help horses and children. Knowing that God was leading the way, in 2006 they held their first Empowerment clinic, a 4 day clinic teaching what they had learned about starting and running a faith based healing center. Kim and Troy assumed that clinic would be a onetime thing. Shocked by the demand they have held 2 clinics a year ever since and over 2,000 people have attended.

The Empowerment clinics help folks create Similar Ministries of their own to help young folks find firm footing. There are currently 156 Similar Ministries throughout the United States & internationally, including Australia, Canada, England, Honduras, India, Mexico, New Zealand, Romania & Slovakia. Crystal Peaks continues to receive applications from new locations each month.

To learn more about Crystal Peaks, or to inquire about starting a healing place visit their website http://www.crystalpeaksyouthranch.org/ .

Gitty Up ~ Dutch Henry

"Greatest Gift"

Howdy Folks,

Robbie and I sat about in the middle of the sanctuary holding hands as the Minister opened his sermon with a prayer. Christmas Eve candlelight services is one of Robbie's most favorite things, and we'd gone with friends to their church.  It was a wonderful service filled with the Christmas Spirit, communing with friends, and Robbie's delight, circling the sanctuary singing the comforting and familiar Christmas hymns. 

The thyme for service was the gifts, gift giving and the Greatest Gift Of All, the gift of our Savior, Jesus Christ. As the Minister explained,  the most valuable gift ever given, and it was given free. His sermon compared the perceived value of the gifts we share with each other, the money they cost us to purchase and what they might mean to the giver, and the recipient. He had a few appropriate jokes and personal experiences about gifts that missed the mark, and stories of gifts that were just right.

But woven in the tapestry of his sermon was this line, "The only animal in the world that can give a gift is man," which caught me off guard and I must say disappointed me. Not only did he include that thought, but he went to some length to explain how it is true. I was greatly disappointed in that opinion, and the fact he felt the need to insert it in his Christmas message, for as far as I could tell, it added nothing to the central fact of the story that Jesus Christ IS the greatest gift ever given.

I wondered as he spoke had he never felt the warmth of a cat curled on his lap on a chilly evening? Had he not once been greeted at the door upon his arrival home by a dog's eager face, wagging tail and bouncing dance? Had he never seen the pictures of service men and women greeted by absolutely ecstatic dogs nearly smothering them as the arrived home after a long deployment? I wonder if he'd never sat with children, looking out a window on a cold snowy day watching birds at the feeder display their beauty, and making the children giggle at their silly antics.

He surely never stood by a horse, soaking up its giving spirit, with his face buried deep in its mane as tears streamed down his cheeks. I can believe he's never been to a Therapeutic Riding Center and watched as a young girl, dealing with the weight of Spina Bifada, discovered she could indeed sit tall and smile wide. Or watched as a battered woman regained confidence while riding a horse, who knew the precious cargo it carried and made sure to keep her safe.

I agree the most valuable gift ever given was Jesus Christ … but I also know God gave all beings the ability and desire to give gifts. And I thank God for that … For the best gifts of all, in any season, are the gifts of love, healing and comfort … And I believe animals have a most special talent for giving that.

God Bless

Dutch Henry