I can't believe we're already halfway-done with August -- that is some kind of scary. o.o
Caroline (my youngest sister, but not the youngest sibling) will be 10 on the 31st.
And my first Dr's appointment is on the 25th. (No, I haven't been yet. Yes, I'm over 25 weeks pregnant. Yes, I'm in a lot of trouble with people for that.)
Then it's a few more Dr's appointments and not fitting into my clothes and not sleeping comfortably and biding my time through September, October, and most -- if not all -- of November.
Going to work every weekday, and spending some time grooming (and hopefully lunging) Joey Joey to get him in shape to carry my out-of-shape butt after Little Bit gets here.

I went ahead and went out there yesterday after work and made yesterday the first step -- "every journey begins with a single step" is what they say. And this particularly is a journey toward my happiness and my horse's happiness -- because Joey really does mean a lot to me, in case anybody was questioning that fact.

But I think I found a better attitude to have going into it: Go over and groom Joey after work on some days, working out my arms and back muscles in the process, and just enjoy the quiet time with him -- like I used to. I haven't gotten quiet time like that with my boy in over a year. Remember when I spent an entire month not riding, and just sitting with him? I didn't even groom him until after about a week. It did a lot for our relationship before we started riding again. Which, especially with the state my body is going to be in getting back into the saddle, is what we should be striving for.
Don't count your time with him as hours you can't ride as if you're missing out on something; rather, look at it as what it is: time well-spent making your horse, your best boy, happy, healthy, and gorgeous again. See what you can learn about grooming along the way, too!

Because it really should be about the partnership, it should be about Joey and I as two persons; not just about time in the saddle. So yesterday we just groomed a little -- he was sweating kind of a lot (because it's freaking hot and humid in the South, y'all). I combed [and had to cut some of] the dreads out of his mane and tail; and then we went to the hose up by the house and washed away all of the caked up grime and sweat. He hasn't been groomed in over 6 months. Isn't that sad? He usually doesn't like the hose much (I've handled worse though); and he was a little antsy (mostly because I wouldn't let him graze the front yard instead); but he stood (with help from my sister), and he definitely looked cleaner when we were done (these parentheses are pointless here).

After we hosed down all the sweat and grime.

But yeah, I'm just basically going to start back at the beginning as that horse-crazy kid who knows nice people that will let her come over after school to groom their beautiful black gelding, with the distant hope that someday they may let me ride regularly -- except I am the nice people, and the pony is mine to call the shots on. lol But maybe I can strive toward contentment while looking at it that way.

PS: Haha It was super cute, but apparently he remembered the teeny bit I actually succeeded at teaching him about bowing like three years ago -- which was basically just curling his left leg up and tucking his chin on the command "left, left, left." I didn't even cue him, and it took him three goes at it for me to notice, but while I was combing out his mane yesterday evening, he kept curling that leg and tucking that chin, and then looking at me expectantly for cookies and praise. He's such a ham, but I think he's missed our time together. ^.^