I have a second batch of kids. I liked the first batch, who are now grown adults and amazing people, but my husband and I decided to do it again. Many memories that our big kids had I like to recreate for our little kids.
I guess it is nostalgia that wells up in me in many cases or just fun memories.
My big boys loved going to a certain store and always talked about riding Penny. I always thought that was the name of the horse. For decades, we have talked about Penny and how much fun they had putting the penny in the slot and galloping for one minute. This was a core memory for my big boys.
Imagine my surprise, when on a whim, we stopped at the same store my big kids used to love to go to and ride Penny and my 7-year-old ran up to the horse and with sweet eyes said, “PLEEEASSE?”
With no penny in my pocket, I smiled when I saw the mound of pennies on the base of the horse and told him, “Sure, get on that horse.”
I was flooded with emotion as I saw him up on the horse, holding the reigns just like his big brothers had 24 years ago. I snapped this pic and sent it to the big boys and said, “Remember this? When did they change her name to Sandy??? Wasn’t her name Penny?”
And just like that, another memory was made.
He smiled on top of that horse and kept saying “gallup, gallup, gallup” under his breath the entire time.
I think her name must have been Sandy all along, but over the years, we forgot her name and called her Penny, and Penny she will always be.
