don't wake me.

i hate to be waken up more than my girl. so to find her hovering over my head this morning, did not make me happy. she was there to ask me if she could play toontown on the computer in the form of,

when does my summer start.

really now. do you risk mom's wrath for a computer game? apparently.

and so, i told her,

summer never begins.

smiled, then said,

go ahead, play.

off she goes, swearing to let me sleep longer. after she informs me, dad dropped something on me last night, and i didn't even stir. i was wasted tired.

shirt turned inside out, i had a long drawn out dream about velvet. a black mare. my girl and i brought her home, fashioned a paddock in the yard, and put her in there. the next morning we went to her and she was gone. panic ensued. we searched but could not find her. no one could. finally, we had to tell nicole what we had done. though she likely knew with her horse going mia. so, i tell her when my girl walks away in the dream, and say,

they have not seen her. no one knows where she is.

that's probably the best thing that can happen to her,

unflappable nicole says.

and i smile.

yes.

my girl returns and i tell her.

we make it home by the end of the dream and who is there waiting for us, velvet. looking like she had never been gone a moment. and we were relieved. i was relieved. and awoke to a hovering child wanting to play computer games.

i would have liked a different form, but accept the one given. so tangible, so real these horses are to me now. and this morning, bandit, the big baby's face hovered in my mind and i let him know i'm coming today.

he's huge, and i'm glad he is warming to me.

the large young thoroughbred let me scratch her mane, and used my body as a scratching post, rubbing her large head, which is nearly the size of my torsoe, up and down gently, so i could get behind her ears and the tricky spots i can't possibly reach without her yielding to my touch.

i would like to sleep more, but the farm calls and for these friends, these i love, i drag myself there and do the best i can for them. and i think they understand how i've come to love them.

my daughter and i were discussing friends the other day. she doesn't feel like she has many, after cutting loose a whole slew of girls who irritated her. and i said, i don't have many either, and we listed two humans locally, and the rest were horses. a bunny. parakeets.

she laughed and said,

your friends are all animals.

which didn't make me unhappy. it pleased me, actually.

kids and animals, that's all i need.

i've said it before, i don't need a lot of friends, just those i can't live without.