When A Boy’s Life and Dreams Changed Forever

What happened when a boy’s life course changed forever?
Dreams can get altered abruptly. He chose to ride the new horizons with courage.

And then his life’s dreams changed.

Almost as quickly as if he’d been bucked off a wild horse and trampled by a whole herd, he lost his dream. Perhaps he’d have been able to accept it more easily if it had been something dramatic like that.

So he became a cowboy with a sewing machine.

And his saddle hung in the barn while he pieced custom saddles for others who still could ride.

The ping-pong table in the family’s rec room changed from fast paddle games to a leather-cutting table.  And an extra basement room became a cowboy’s saddle factory.

Ahh, the smells!  Real leather hung from hooks.  From a rod hung purses and chaps and belts in varying stages of completion.  A saddle stand dominated the center of the room, holding a saddle stripped to the padding and wood.

Our cowboy is re-covering a client’s saddle, because when a rider finds a good saddle, they want to keep it for life.  When the leather gives out, you find a leather worker to re-cover it.  Someone good, who won’t change the contours and comfort quotient.  And you’ll pay thousands for that.

This is an awesome accomplishment for an eighteen year old.

However,

this was not his dream for his life.

This young man’s dream to ride his horse into the wind, spend the day rounding up cattle, tossing his lariat and roping the calves in for branding had to change forever.

He lived for the rough and tumble and strong and free.

Cutting leather and sewing saddles?

Not so much.

Even though it takes special talent to do what he does with leather,

this was not his dream.

And he was headed straight for his dream, living the cattleman’s life, until

this boy’s life changed forever.

Riding a New Trail

The boy was born in Africa, the third child of missionaries, who had dozens of native friends following him in and out of escapades.

When still a baby, he got sick.  He was in the hospital in Harare for a long time, with doctors doing their best to save his life.  The doctor told his mother he was giving him the strongest antibiotics he could find.

And the little fighter got well and healthy and strong again.  It was a miracle.  An answer to prayers on several continents.  (Although, African prayers are known to be answered miraculously.  But that’s a story for another day.)

He had the happiest childhood.  One that many children could only dream of.

And then, he began to have trouble with his feet.  His ankles would give way when he jumped for that basketball shot or took off running for a touchdown.

Then his parents knew it was time to find a doctor.  This problem was obviously more than the genetics of a family known to have foot problems.

Now the boy’s trail involved rides to the doctor instead of heading into the sunset on his horse.

They found a doctor who knew about bones and feet.  This doctor established the fact that it wasn’t just genetics, that the drugs in Africa had stunted the growth and performance of his feet.  His ankles had joints like hips, with far too much swivel, causing the falls and pain.

Thus began frequent and month-long trips to Baltimore, with too many surgeries to count.

At one point they thought the first foot was finished being bolted and cut and bones changed around and ready to heal for the second foot to be worked on. But then the foot developed an infection and they had to go back in and start all over.

Total heartbreak for a teenager.  Watching his friends living their dreams while he lay in a hospital bed with infection and pain.  Tracking the trails through a window while his horse roams the pasture.

He never signed up for this steep curve.

He never asked to traverse this mountain. To re-fit saddles instead of ride in them.

But he is.  And he is doing it with courage.  He is doing it with choices that make us proud to know him.

I hope this story helps at a time when your dreams seem shattered…

and that you can find the courage to change your dream and live your new story with power.