Day 7: Things I'll Never Forget About Lori

Her Love Of Horses

While I had enjoyed horseback-riding occasionally before I met my wife, it was Lori who really helped me appreciate the larger-than-life loving nature of horses.

Lori loved horses of all shapes and sizes, and while we were traveling would often stop the car to get out and pet or feed a penned horse that had come close to the fence... in fact on our last trip to Hawaii she nearly stepped out of our Jeep to try to approach two wild horses we came across in Waipio Valley.

I managed to convince her that it might not be the safest thing to do, but had I not been there to stop her she most assuredly would have been out there in the jungle, petting those amazing creatures.

Who knows, perhaps I shouldn't have stopped her––but she was already weak, and had the horses become spooked she could have easily gotten hurt.

Lori and I rode horseback all over Maui & the Big Island, not to mention right here in California, and we always had an incredible time. One year for her birthday I took Lori for a private horseback ride through the mountains just south of Point Reyes... the rainforest there was lush and green, and our guide was full of great stories about the area.

I will never forget ANY of our rides, as each one had a completely different feel. On the Big Island we came across three baby cows who had escaped from their herd and were trying desperately to get back inside the fence where they belonged.

On Maui we rode down into the crater of Haleakala, and it scared the bejeezus out of both of us... but it was still lots of fun :)

In fact, Lori loved these animals so much that she asked me to spread part of her ashes with the beloved horses (and also the dolphins) that she spent so much time with on the Big Island of Hawaii.

While she never explained exactly what that meant, I imagine taking half of her ashes up into the Kohala Mountains on the Northern-most tip of the Big Island, out into those huge green pastures overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and letting her ashes drift lazily across the fields of grass.

That way she can run with the horses every single day, for the rest of eternity, and I can rest in peace knowing that I have fulfilled her very final wish...