Writings By Phil

August 13, 2020

Thirty-seven years ago today, Jackie married me! On that long ago day, she got her Phil, but not her filly. She always wanted a horse! I’m not sure that I have been a good substitute, though I have been known to horse around a bit. Today, I broke down and gave her a horse!

Actually, this horse came though the mission barrel about five years ago. I gave it to her back then. It was not a pretty horse. The head was too small for the body, and the front legs were proportionally out of scale, one long and one short. It was also tailless! In spite of its flaws, Jackie liked it and even gave it a tail made from an old mop.

My biggest regret, even back then, was that it was not, instead, a mule. A mule is more stable on it feet. This horse, standing on three feet would fall over every time the cat sneezed. The first time it happened, an ear broke off. I fixed it as best I could, but shortly after, the cat knocked it over again and the ear broke a second time. The last time it fell over, a front leg, the short, bent one, broke in two.

I know from the movies, that when your horse breaks a leg, you are supposed to shoot it. I thought about it, but if I was going to fix it, why put another big hole in it. That would just mean more patching and painting when the day for repair came.

The only recourse was to send the horse to the glue factory. Oh, not the one that makes glue and dog food from the equine species, but the one where glue is used to make repairs to wooden horses. I put the ear and broken leg in a place where I could find them and disassembled the horse and stuffed it in a garbage bag where it remained for over three years.

This year for our anniversary, I decided to resurrect it and give it back to Jackie a second time. I dug it out, found the leg, and pinned it with a wooden dowel to make it strong. The ear gave me problems. As hard as I tried to remember, I could not find it (I’m at the age when “sometimers” is starting to take over). Instead, I stood on the street corner yelling, “Friends, lend me your ears.” Nobody listened! I realize now, that was EARresponsible behavior. Luckily the ear was not EARreplaceable and I was able to carve a new one. The new model is reinforced with window screen and JB Weld! I carved a new tail, also, to restore the horse to its glory days when it was new.

We now have three cats and a dog, all inside pets. To solve the problem of the horse falling over every time an animal runs by, I mounted the horse on a spiral pole, kind of like Merry-Go-Round horses have, and bolted that to a study platform. Hopefully, now, it will even survive a Florida Hurricane!

I doubt that Jackie will ever hit the dusty trail with this sturdy mount, but for sure, she will be dusting the tail. Sadly, it is just another dustible! However, I am glad it got a second chance to make a horse lover happy.

I guess this old horse reminds me of me! I have so many flaws and I need second chances, and third chances and forth . . . In years, Jackie has given me 37 chances. In days, hours or minutes she has put up with me and all my failings so often, that even a calculator would short circuit and fry it’s brain counting the chances she has given me.

Like the wooden horse, I need a good base to stand on to make my marriage strong. That platform can only be found in God and His word. How often I have leaned to my own understanding and when the cats of this world, or my own flesh, sneeze, I fall, failing as a husband, a father and a Christian. Jackie has been there to help me “cowboy up” and get my feet back under me.

Of course, JJ’s patience and forgiveness pales in comparison to what God has done for me. “He has not dealt with me according to my sins, Nor punished me according to my iniquities.” Psalm 103:10 NKJ. I am so thankful that He doesn’t.

Thank you, JJ, for going on life’s trail ride with me and thank you for 37 second chances!