Beauty in the ordinary
We hopped into the car and handed Yahya a Maria biscuit knowing it would extinguish any crying as we drove toward Mountsberg for our weekend family outing. I couldn’t resist a double-double so I asked Mehdi to swerve into the Timmie’s line-up and to my surprise, we were just two cars behind my awaited cup of joe. I took my first sip as we drove through the curvy roads lined with barren trees and old country houses. Each one held a story and I wondered what was going on within, especially the ones that had smoke coming up from the chimneys dissipating into the gray sky. I put my coffee into the cup holder as we bumped over railroad tracks and entered a quaint little town with a tiny blue free library in the shape of a wooden house. We admired the quaint shops and wondered if ever we could have a home of our own in a town as sweet as this, perfectly nestled between city and country. I pointed out the two birds of prey I spotted in a tree near the pond right before we entered the park.
We walked into the visitor center with Yahya and Waliya in tow when a young bright-eyed lady with red hair pulled into a low ponytail peaked over and directed us to the wagon ride stop right by the kindling fire pit beyond the creaky wooden doors. Across the kindling fire, which looked quite tempting to sit around, was our tour guide who excitedly shared with us that we were lucky enough to get a private ride as no one else signed up for the same time slot. Mehdi and I looked at each other and smiled as we hopped onto the wagon, led by two stunning horses, Brooke and Judy.
Colleen, the rider gave us a few brief rules before the horses started to gallop through the dirt path. Waliya was just putting her binocular cord around her neck when the horses jolted forward making her little body tip over. Yahya appeared perplexed as he had no idea what we were doing outside of his comfortable play mat at home. Colleen had us guess how much Brooke weighed and I guessed close to 2,200 pounds but it turned out she was a whopping 2,800 pounds mashaAllah! We learned both horses were from the Percheron breed and loved doing work in the winter months, hence their daily wagon rides for visitors. Their diet is between 50-60 pounds of hay per day along with 4 quarts of oats and supplements.
I loved how they trotted along like best friends running track in high school. How they matched each others’ energy and rhythm and how they patiently waited for us to board. My favourite part was when they galloped faster down a hill which of course coincided with Yahya crying tears of …”get me off of here right now!” I zipped open my bag and offered him a few star-shaped baby nibbles to quiet his crying and it worked alhumdulillah. Once we were off the wagon, we saw Brooke and Judy and took a few family pictures for memory-keeping. Standing there, I was reminded of a memory three years prior when we came as a family with just Waliya and ourselves, and little did we know then that Allah (swa) would bless us to come back and enjoy the same horse-drawn wagon ride with our son Yahya in what seemed like just a short while.
The only thing left to do was to visit our friendly farm animals and the birds they had onsite. We noticed the beautifully patterned feathers on the male turkey, the sleeping cat who roamed the barn at night to keep mice away, the chubby rabbits huddled together keeping themselves warm, and the calm and mild-mannered goats who chewed away in their hay without any trouble. We petted the goats and chuckled every time the turkey gobbled, sensing perhaps he wanted to be out of his cage. The bald eagle and great horned owl weren’t a far walk and as soon as I spotted them, I glued my eyes onto Waliyas’ expression, anticipating the delight in seeing her eyes widen in awe once she spotted them herself. “Mama, look!" she said as I smiled over at her and nodded.
Writing Prompts // Reflection
Take a recent experience and tell a story about it, because the more we re-live good memories, the more we let them settle into our soul, the less fleeting they become. The experience can be as simple as:
Getting ready for the day
Going to a regular weekly outing
Seeing a friend
Packing for a trip
Making dinner or breakfast
Welcoming a guest
