A strange series of events happened to me a while ago.
First, a bit of history. Passionate about horses as a teenager, I rode and showed for many years, as I had the horse pictured above with me (at the tender age of 16) stabled north of the city. Aptly, her name was Meltemi (you'll see why in a bit) and our bond was close. She and I grew to be inseparable. But she was a fractious mare.... and a giant in height at 17hh. With a strong will and mind of her own, she was a handful. [Not unlike me! Clearly, we were meant for each other.
] Honestly, if I had a dime for every time she galloped wildly around the ring during my lessons, with me feeling like an insignificant fly on her back, trying desperately to maintain control, while hearing my Hungarian dressage instructor bellowing at the top of his lungs ….’VAT ARE YOU DOOINK????’ I would have been a rich woman.
Despite this, my formative years around horses were very happy ones and I absolutely lived to ride. Like a lot of teenage girls, my bedroom walls were covered with horse pictures, my shelves were lined with British pony books, my riding gear was everywhere, bits of tack were lying about in various places, and the delicious, ubiquitous smell of horse was omnipresent.
Two summers ago when I was listening to one of my favourite jazz stations online, a song called Meltemi came on. I looked at my computer in amazement as the title scrolled by and was instantly transported back to happy memories of those times at the stables.
Days later, while I was at the waterfront, I took a double-take with astonishment as a sailboat with that very same name emblazoned on her stern glided by me in the harbour. (Great name for a boat actually, as Meltemi is the name for the strong, tempestuous winds on the Aegean Sea.) I stood there, trying to process and piece together the link of those random sightings.
All of that was eerie enough, given the time frame in which they occurred, but when I mentioned the happenstance of those two things to a friend and sent her the above image of Meltemi and I, she said to me....'Look at what's on your shirt!' (Hopefully, you can see what's depicted there.)
I still get goosebumps telling this story. And I haven't made it up, honest.