The Long Road: Life happens

From speed bumps to giant concrete barriers, the road to Maegan Gossett’s riding goals has been anything but straightforward. Some detours, however, turn out to be scenic routes in disguise.

From Maegan:

I am no stranger to life’s obstacles. This column isn’t called “The Long Road” for nothing. But holy cow, when they say “life happens,” they mean LIFE happens.

In my last post, I talked about going to a large show in Mississippi. It was an important qualifying show for Elle and I. We were preparing hard. We drilled our patterns, and I crippled myself with no stirrup work. And then…

BOOM! Life happens…

Our entire separate two-car garage exploded then burnt to the ground. Of course I cried when I heard what had happened, but it was tears of relief. It could have been the barn with Elle locked inside. Or, like, my house. Mainly I just felt blessed it wasn’t the barn.

But it was our horse trailer.

The entire side of the trailer next to the building melted. It’s not completely totaled, but it might as well be. It meant no show in Mississippi. It was a hard loss, but there is always the March show in Tennessee. I told myself that I would just work extra hard to make up for the points lost in Mississippi.

BOOM! Life happens…

That’s right. I’m engaged! Elle thought she was in early retirement the past few weeks. Little did she know it wasn’t all grass and grain in her future. I had just gotten hugely distracted by wedding planning madness.

Isn’t your wedding supposed to be fun and all about you? HA! What a joke. I hope there are no little girls reading this who dress their Barbies up in wedding dresses. If so, there’s no Santa Claus either.

I’m all about eliminating stress. We decided to go to Vegas.

It’s been a whole lot of life happening around here lately. So much that I have decided for the sake of my sanity and Elle’s that we just focus on local shows this year. It was a tough decision and one I was a little ashamed of at first, but I knew that it would be too much to juggle a new marriage with weekend shows, traveling, and riding every day.

To set aside this lifelong dream of mine even just for a year is a little staggering. It’s just another curve in my road towards a World Championship. Thankfully it isn’t the health of my horse or a burnt barn. Finally, this speed bump is one that I welcome with only love and hope.

Of course, all of those less than joyous detours have all led me to this one point in my life where I met the man of my dreams, who would accept my expensive lifestyle (although he did put his foot down and only let Elle be in half of the engagement pictures. She also couldn’t be mentioned on the wedding invitation. Lame).

So maybe it isn’t the long road. Maybe it’s exactly the right road. The best road. Your road.

Maegan and Elle competing in Hunter Under Saddle. Photo courtesy of Sarah Elder Chabot.