It has been posted on the social media here recently that more folks are visiting libraries than go to see movies. I recently took my family of 4 to see the latest Jumanji flick for a whopping $48 (because there was advertised in the cast both a horse & a Rock, two of my favorite creatures). While I myself don’t visit libraries nearly as much as I should, as a family we make regular visits to the bookstore. Mostly, we buy coffee & chocolate & read books off the shelf without buying much if we can avoid it. I try not to feel guilty about it & I don’t smudge or crease the books at all before putting them back!
A few Fridays ago, my kids were frolicking in the kid section after a jolt of sugar from overpriced juice boxes at the cafe & I told them specifically not to get kidnapped while I went to look in my favorite section, SCIENCE. We go often to this bookstore, but for some unexplained reason the topic sections are always getting rearranged & I have a hell of a time finding what I want while also keeping tabs on the kids. This particular Friday, I went to look for SCIENCE anyway.
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I scanned over several favorite volumes still in stock on the shelves that I had broken down to buy within the last few years on my quest to help horses. I never look for anything specific, but just glance through the collection to see what catches my eye. That day it took all of 5 seconds before I lit on Fred’s book. Before I even lifted it off the shelf, I knew this book was for me.
When I sat in the child-sized chair in Pooh’s forest, first checking the index of Fred’s book & reading what was offered about horses & domestication, then googling the author’s name & contact info, I knew without a doubt, this man whose lifetime of work I’d been seeking for years, would soon be my friend. I was right. The email I sent on that Friday got an enthusiastic reply by Sunday & a new friendship was born.
Life is science- any biologist or animal behaviorist has witnessed this one million times over. However, when you love & you live for science & you make a new friend in a way that science just cannot explain, that is what you call magic.
Thank you, Fred ❤️
