Winter has put her glittering icy garments into storage and Spring has gathered gleaming buds and blossoms galore for her elegant new frock.

All things are made new... over and over again. I arrived at Sierra Rose Farms for my final equine therapy session, and when I opened the car door, I was greeted with fresh, spring air! I honestly can not remember a more amazing spring than this. Is it just me, or....?

I approached the now familiar pens and barn, and remembered the experiences I've had there. Memories flashed in my mind like mid-term of a reality series. I thought about how frigid it was my first day there, how unprepared my wardrobe had been for the beginning of this adventure. I remembered getting Stormy's tooth, which is now part of my home altar. I looked at the gorgeous blue sky, now aflutter with chirping robins. What an experience this has been. I could only smile in gratitude for the ability to have this experience.

"Today we will culminate everything you have done here," LeeAnn told me. Stormy, Savannah, Bruzer and Littlefoot galloped around the barn. All the props from my former lessons were laid out on the sand floor of the arena: plastic pails, styrofoam pool noodles, shims with words written across them, a blue tarp, beach balls. My inner child loved seeing this playground. In one corner, two wood rafters had been laid into an L shape to make the corner into a small square. Lee Ann told me my first task was to label anything I wanted to in the entire barn, for anything symbolic of my time at SRF. I ran with the tape roll and pen to the corner rafters, eagerly writing BOUNDARIES! There's a little step stool we sometimes used for a seat. ONE STEP AT A TIME!! Tape on the wall of the barn: SCHOOL! LeeAnn reminded, "You can label the horses if you want to." Stormy happened to be in the vicinity and again recalling his tooth, I taped GOOD LUCK on his tangled mane. Finding my figurative head and heart from last time, they were labeled OPEN MIND and STRONG HEART.

After labeling, the task was to take the things I wished into the cordoned-off corner of the barn. This corner was to be my new "house,"-- my new life, my new experience.

First I dragged one of the blue barrels which LeeAnn, Christine and I had sat upon to confer each week, labeled, GOOD FRIENDS. Better have some good folks in my new house to talk to! As I carried each labeled item or stick into my "house," LeeAnn urged me to talk about each one, and why I was choosing it.

GOOD LUCK -- Stormy -- wandered in and out of the "house" and LeeAnn noted, "Good luck comes and goes." True enough, but I wholeheartedly believe that sometimes the things we think of as bad luck turn around after time and become good luck. For instance, having cancer was bad luck. But it reunited me with my sister and she saved my life when she gave me her bone marrow, so it turned out to be good luck.

I grabbed sticks with ACCEPTANCE, TOLERANCE, HOPE and TEAMWORK and added them to my house. The tape from the barn door, SCHOOL, was brought in as a representation of one of my favorite themes -- life as school. Every day has a learning experience!

It was easy to leave out things like fear, judgment, seeking permission, anger. I could put them in storage if I need to use them again, but do I need them in my everyday existence? If I am to build a new life then what shall my new spring wardrobe include?

A crazy and colorful hat, Kentucky Derby-worthy, to remind me to keep an open mind AND a sense of humor. Maybe some rose-colored glasses not for denial but to help me see things in their best possible light. A heart-shaped pendant to remind me to keep my heart open and treat every situation with tender loving care. A cloak made of the strong, silken threads of hope. These threads are created and woven together by the relationships in my life. The nature of the cloak is also to allow any negative influences to fly off of me instead of clinging and becoming burdens. I keep my comfortable jeans, t-shirt and shoes to keep doing the things I love to do best: working, walking, writing.

Nature cycles and re-cycles. Winter always turns to Spring. As human beings, we also cycle and re-cycle. We can let go of old beliefs or patterns of behavior that don't fit us or don't look good on us anymore. We can outfit ourselves in new garments appropriate for new circumstances, or maybe just because it's time to have something NEW. There are lots of places to "shop" for the new and better things. I happened to find Sierra Rose Farms a most delightful place to look, and to find, a fresh wardrobe.