Sometimes blessings come wrapped in strange looking packages......

I called Carol on a Friday night. It had been unually cold in Georgia for the time of year (19 at night) and we had opted NOT to go to the Hartwell Christmas parade that night due to the excessive cold (at least it's excessive for us Georgians!). So, we were looking for something to do with the minis that weekend to replace the fun we would have had at the parade.

I had met Carol a few weeks earlier at the Fall Festival in Winterville where we had taken a couple of the minis so the kids could enjoy them at the festival. . She had mentioned that "Carlton" would love to see the little horses. I assumed "Carlton" was a man in a wheelchair in a nursing home because Carol mentioned he was disabled and she cared for him. I took Carol's number and told her I'd call some time and we'd be more than happy to bring the horses to her place.

Well, when I called Carol that Friday, I apologized for the short notice. I was asking if it would be alright to bring the horses over the next day. She was thrilled and said it was definitely ok. She then started telling me about her "boys", Carlton, Ellis and William.

Carlton is a 60 year old man that is a ward of the State and Carol and her husband, Steve, care for him. She told me that Carlton has intermittent explosive disorder and sometimes hits people. However, she said he was very calm now that he had been with them for some time (7 years) and he was no threat to us. She said he had the mind of a 5 or 6 year old and didn't talk very well, though he could understand what you said to him. She said he would remind me of a "little old homeless man". Carlton's situation didn't really bother me.

Ellis is about 62 and has down dyndrome. He has suffered some strokes and cannot talk very well, if at all. She said that he would probably think it was too cold and wouldn't even want to come outside. Again, nothing I saw a problem with.

Then she started telling me about William. He is in his early thirties. She said he had "webbed hand" and "bulging eyes" and that his appearance sometimes shocked people. I must have seen too many sci-fi movies because I couldn't get past the webbed hands part. Then she told me of his SEVERE obsessive compulsive disorder where he petted women's pants and wanted you to scratch his right shoulder with your left hand. She also mentioned he was a head banger. There were many other things discussed about William that made me think we had gotten in over our heads. Richard had his girls there and I didn't know how they would react to such a person or if they would be scared. Also, I didn't know how we would feel if this stranger started grabbing us and rubbing our pants legs!

I told Carol I was glad she told me all these things so we could be prepared. We all talked about it and decided we could handle it and wanted to go. What a BLESSING it was!!!! There was nothing strange at all about any of them. Our imaginations had almost gotten the best of us.

We were met by Carlton (the horse lover) who immediately took Baroque from me when I unloaded him from the trailer. I looked at Carol and asked if he would hold on to him and not let him go? She told Carlton to hold with both hands and he did! He would not let Baroque go. It was so heart warming to see and hear him laugh so whole-heartedly with his "pony".

William and Ellis were not so excited about the horses though each of them did come down and pet on them for a little while. Ellis declared he was cold and went back inside. William stayed a bit longer but ended up deciding to go back to the porch and watch. But, Carlton was there for as long as we would allow him to be with those horses.

I finally convinced Carlton to hold Jammer rather than Baroque because he was the more calm of the two. At one point Carlton asked his mama in his muffled grunts (he calls Carol mama) if he could take Jammer into his bedroom (ha!). We told Carlton he could walk Jammer around and he would follow him. Of course, Carlton took off walking Jammer and bless Jammer's little heart, he followed wherever Carlton took him.

Someone mentioned that Jammer had shavings in his mane. We had not thought to bring brushes so someone went inside and got their hair brush and Carlton very gently began to brush Jammer. Jammer was so good - you'd never guess he's an eight year old stallion!

Before we left, we gave each man a stuffed pony to remember our visit. Carlton's pony was a brown and white paint - like Baroque. Carlton declared he would call it Jammer (at least that's what Carol interpreted him to say). Carol laughed and said Carlton would probably end up with all three ponies in his room before it was over.