Once again, my sister proves she's one in a million.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

I had something REALLY bad happen today...the programmers I hired for a major project were trying to squeeze me for more money, so I took them into arbitration. The end result? They were awarded $1850 for doing NO WORK.

So I shared this with my sister (the one in Nevada, not the freeper in Colorado Springs who hasn't spoken to me in 8 years), and she replied:

I'm so sorry. Wish I was in a position to help. I'm so damn poor, and what did I do? A friend sent me a mesage saying there was a horse in town. the owner's husband and she both lost their jobs. They tried to place the horse absolutely everywhere, and to give her away, but nobody would take her. On Friday she was going to be killed, simply because her owner couldn't afford to feed her. Of course she is now mine. Horses are very expensive. Hay is now $21.00 a bale. that means I go from 1 bale every week and 1/2, for my 3 goats, to 3 bales a week, plus grain, plus farrier, plus salt blocks, beet pulp, etc. There just is no possible way I could live with myself if I allowed a perfectly good, loyal horse to be killed. sooo now I'm poorer than I was before. On the flip side, Shannon...Adam's wife is completely in love with the horse, whose name is Majestic Dasher; or Dasher for short. Dasher gave Shannon her spunk back. She has been looking for a job for months, but there was nothing, so eventually she kind of gave up looking very hard. Because of Dasher, she got back out and applied, and was called by the nicest business in town; The Winery. She had her first interview last week, and goes for a second tomorrow morning. All because of a horse. Such strange things happen in life.

Today I buried my pet chicken Baby Girl. It broke my heart to lose her, but it hurt worse to see her suffer. She was 10 years old and the sweetest little girl. She had the run of the yard and was the Princess of the farm. Every time I picked her up, she would tuck her head in my neck and talk to me all the way to the barn, where she slept every night, on her pink blanket. I will sure miss seeing her strut around the yard too.

[styersc]

1. Your sister is special.

Geez...your story has me feeling better about a long series of setbacks.

That may be a miracle horse.

[kentauros]

2. That's a beautiful story!

I think your sister knows more about what makes life special than most people

[pacalo]

3. Why am I not surprised you had such a wonderful sister?

I'm disappointed that she wasn't the sister (I didn't know you had more than one) that you fell out of touch with; when you mentioned she wanted to buy you a book, I was secretly pleased that you & she had started communicating again.

Those damn programmers! Are they going to finish the project for you?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

5. This is the same sister who bought me the book...

...we have progressively gotten closer since my mom died. The other sister hasn't spoken to me since 2003.

The programmers got a $1850 payday for doing nothing. Not only are they not going to finish...they never started. But that is the nature of "binding arbitration"...you accept the verdict. It was my intention to protect the client, because once I put the programmers' money onto the escrow account, they started making noise about how everything I brought up was "outside the scope of the project" (it wasn't).

So they tried to squeeze me for more money, I tried to protect the client, I took them into arbitration, and lost. I received nothing in exchange for the $1850.

[Mira]

6. I so hate that for you. Yet,

over time it will disappear into the night of a long life, your work will get done, important learning will happen for the future, and suddenly it's a paycheck for services rendered.
I laud your appreciation of your sister. I'm glad you cherish her.

I have only one (five brothers) and we have not spoken in many many years. I wish I had had two sisters.

[pacalo]

7. ...

A gigantic for you.

Have something to drink. What's done is done, but see if you can get an attorney to draw up a contract that will protect you better in the future.

You don't deserve that happening to you.

[seabeyond]

4. i love your story....

or your sisters. thanks for sharing

[Lucinda]

8. She is awesome.

And a good writer!

[OneGrassRoot]

9. Brings tears to my eyes...

imagining your sister and her Baby Girl.

What an angel she is to so many.

Thanks for sharing this touching story, Amerigo.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

10. I've never heard it said better..."What an angel she is to so many."

She volunteers twice a week at the Salvation Army soup kitchen. Many of her good deeds go unnoticed, but the local paper did write about the time that the town's elementary school was facing a budget crunch and was going to eliminate art programs for the students. What did she do? She went to every local merchant in the town and asked them to contribute something. The majority of them did...some contributed money, others contributed art supplies.

She is also a trained rescue worker. Hurricane Katrina? She went to New Orleans for two weeks in its aftermath. Haiti? She went there too. In both situations she went into these areas with a team of other trained volunteers. It's never easy or convenient for her to do this. But any time another human being is suffering or in need she sets aside her own challenges and pitches in.

If I shared some of the stories about the traumas she's faced in life, I'm sure some folks would think I was making them up. But she is a larger-than-life figure. That's really the key to what makes her special. She's faced things in life that would have made most people throw in the towel decades ago, but Donna just keeps getting better and better, and her heart just continues to grow.

Last week she emailed me because her father-in-law had been taken to the hospital and was in a coma. Her husband had to fly from Nevada to Massachusetts to be by his side. She asked for prayers, and she got them, but her father-in-law died in the hospital that night. She posted a touching little eulogy for him on Facebook. And this all happened at the same time that she decided to take the horse. See the pattern here? She has a moment of great loss in her life, she loved her father-in-law and also hated to see her husband suffer this loss, but that horse touched her heart and she knew it would be hell to afford its upkeep but she stepped up. And that's just because it's who she is...she never has a choice in these matters. Her heart tells her what to do and she does it, and one way or another, the details sort themselves out later.

[get the red out]

11. Your sister is an angel

and that horse is an angel, they recognized each other.

Thank you for the wonderful story.