debris4spike | June 1st ... 2000

I just wanted to put a few words down to pull together my day - and to remember one of the worst 24 hours of my life.

May 31st 2000 I had a phone call in the evening from my parents to say that they had been burgled (the second time in a year) ... but this time it had been my room that had been ransacked ... as I spend my weekends with them I have a bedroom there - and so the stuff that was missing were things like my 18th and 21st birthday necklaces and other jewellery .... and (amazingly) a Bible ... Still can't get my head round that even to this day!

Yes, it was hard to realise that my special; bits had gone - probably to be spent on drugs.

The following morning however, put things ito perspective as Toni asked me to do my first ever escort ride to take my mind off things until I was free to go home and give Mum and Dad the hug I knew they needed.

Half way into the ride, disater struck - Toni's amazing mare, Squiffy, was fatally injured. To cot a very long and traumatic story short, she and I enede up in the mud for about 40 minutes while we waited for the vet.

(when I eventually got back to my place I realised that I had missed a couple of my patients - one of whom was very annoyed, even though I phoned and explained the situation to them both.)

Suiff was the first injury I had seen - and so far, the worst. Bits of that day will never fade, However the real lesson I learnt was -

Who cares about jewellery .... Toni had lost one of her best friends.

Friends are most important thing in this life - Never waste an oppertunity to spend quality time with them.

I know that Squiffy and Jaykub are gallopping around the fields of Heaven - They are having fun together ... But it is still hard to say goodbye.

R.I.P. Squiffy.