Today I helped my good friend, Tracy Manzanaras, with the last of the house clean up and the ride to the dump. She is moving to Payson to build her dream home with her new husband, complete with 5 acres for their horses, chickens, and dogs. I thought it was rather ideal to live on a street where most homes were on acre lots and several neighbors owned horses. When Matt had his accident, one of those neighbors (Kim Kohler) insisted that I go riding with her once a week to take a break for myself. What a delight to ride through the mountains taking in green pines, aspens, and lots of fresh air. We would often go with other women and their mounts, and even though I am a complete novice at riding, they were patient and gave only a little advice and watched as I held onto the saddle horn for dear life instead of really learning the art of riding. No matter, I would gallop with the rest of them when we hit the meadows feeling the wind in my hair and the sun on my face. I have ridden with them many times over the years through green spring, hot summers, and brilliant fall color. Even after Kim moved we meet at Southfork up Provo Canyon for a ride whenever she calls. I pitch in for gas, feed the horses carrots, and get horse slobber and sweat on me, but at the end of the day I go home to shower and my friends bare the brunt of horse ownership with the cost and the care of the equine. Couldn’t be better…. except that now many of those same friends have moved for greener pastures, upsetting my perfect world. Tracy especially. When I moved here 6 years ago, she had just gone through a divorce. We are the same age, have the same name, both have sons named Trevor, and we both exercise in the mornings, often together. Sometimes we circle the block on an early morning walk and smile when Steven Barrett and Kal Farr (exercising their bad backs) simply say, “Hi Traci(y)s” as we circle in opposite directions. Other times we put on a tape and lift weights, or talk while we put miles on the treadmill. We have shared the ongoing sagas of our lives with the ups, the downs, and the scary (yup, dating again after long term marriages … even a few singles dances). We have experienced joy for the other as each of us remarried, and understood stuff that shouldn’t have made sense because we have lived through things that didn't make sense. I wish all my friends of the past would never move. I can imagine the utopian neighborhood filled with my handpicked favorites. Good friends.
Traci and Tracy
Traci and Kim
Traci and David
