The Morgan Show.......... A Little Kindness.....

Part 1

Kooks are the exception at horse shows. There are always lots of nice people there as well. It doesn't matter whether it's a Morgan horse show, an Arabian horse show or what. Even just at schooling show,I always seem to come across examples of kindness.

Sometimes, however, things will happen that really are out of the realm of what you might expect. Saturday evening at this Morgan show an exhibitor came into the office looking for someone involved with the show who might be "local." She had tickets for a concert in the area she was hoping someone could use.

People just kind of looked at each other puzzled like they had no idea where this was going. Me, I inquired as to just what "local" might mean to her since I knew we had exhibitors from three states and Canada at our show.

It turned out "local" really meant anyone in the greater Seattle area and that just so happens to be me. The concert tickets were for Carole King and James Taylor at the Seattle Key Arena on Sunday night. While I barely know who Carole King is and I have no clue who James Taylor might be, I knew this type of music was within the scope of what Dave would love to hear so I put my hand right up there and claimed those tickets.

Turns out those darn tickets were about $150 a piece! (counting the service charge) OUCH!! The exhibitors were from Oregon. They thought since they'd be at the show, they'd be able to attend this concert in Seattle. Unfortunately they had to be home early Monday morning for some business and they didn't want those tickets to go to waste.

As she handed me the tickets she asked me if I really thought I would use them. I immediately answered "Yes" and told her I couldn't wait to call my husband. He would be thrilled.

The tricky part, however, was going to be getting me there. The concert was at 7:30 and I was told there was lots of construction on the freeway in downtown Seattle.

I knew I'd probably still be at the horse show until well after 4. Getting the two hours home with my horse and then making it back to the concert in time would be a stretch. It was going to take some thinking to figure this one out.

I called Dave to let him know about the tickets. I also explained the time crunch issues for the next day. I hoped he might help me figure out a way to make this all work.

Dave was excited about the tickets but had no thoughts about the horse. However, I did finally come up with a plan. Dave would have to come up in the morning to pick up my horse. He could take my rig with the horse and leave his car. Then when I was ready to leave I would drive as close to home as I could get to meet Dave with my truck. From there we would park my truck and head back into the city in the car.

As long as nothing unusual happened putting the horse show to bed, it would work. I knew I could count on the show secretary to do her part to get us both out of there at a reasonable time.

The Sunday sessions rolled along smoothly. The exhibitors did their part closing out their accounts earlier than usual and surprisingly with little problems. There are always issues when it comes to figuring out "the money" and where it all went at horse shows but we sailed along.

The only exception was the exhibitor who had been so ticked off at me when moving in. Her account was a mess and I watched for signs of smoke. Of course, about the time they got to the thick of it someone called me out of the office. I crossed my fingers as I left hoping it wouldn't explode before I got back.

When I did arrive back in the office, the woman was gone and the show secretary was busily working away. I could tell by her demeanor she had survived without a catastrophe.

Between the two of us we managed to push up the time frame enough to get us both out of there by 4. That gave me plenty of time to met Dave much closer to home. I got as far as the South Hill Mall which is only twenty minutes from home. The good thing about that was after this concert I knew I was going to be dragging.

Having to drive much farther at that late hour would not have been wise. At least this way Dave was doing the driving into Seattle and then most of the way back home. I've never been one who could sleep in the car but just not driving would be a reprieve. The thing I worried about most was staying awake at the concert.

To be continued...................