Alive In A Hearse...

In my "Two words of mine" blog piece I touched on one of the many things I have been blessed to do along my galloping journey was to ride in the back of a hearse ALIVE...

When one is a somewhat crazy dwarf-horse-artist-hippie-theatre-wandering-fun loving hooman, one can gather quite an amusing assortment of friends and keep very busy in all kinds of activities.😂

Two of my dearest best friends from theatre were John and partner Martin.  We had a large circle of both gay and straight friends who all did a lot together.

I did not have a problem when I turned thirty as some do because I'd already had two spine surgeries which I had to learn how to walk again from...twice, besides hospitalized on a Pediatric Oncology ward to receive a new bone marrow treatment for terrible problems with my blood counts. So I was just thrilled to have even MADE it to thirty.😃

However, by the time I was about to turn thirty-five was another story.  I had just been diagnosed a month before my birthday with the severe, extremely painful inflammation disease within my spinal cord and given a terrifying prognosis.  No one knew exactly what to expect when, other than awful things would begin horribly shutting down as the inflammation makes its way upward.  And the pain would worsen aside from all my other orthopaedic pain.

Since I was still so young and full of life this diagnosis  was very hard to take.  I knew I had to keep fighting because that's what I know...what I do.  Yet it was quite hard to think of celebrating a birthday in the midst of all this.

But John and Martin knew just what to do.  They knew what I was dealing with and they also knew what a wicked sense of humor I have and to work they went.

You see they wanted to help me meet my future head on and felt what better way to help a friend who was just handed a dire prognosis than to rent a HEARSE for a birthday surprise?!!🤪  To just meet this thing head on with laughter and love!😂💕

Somehow John, Martin, and all managed to keep the birthday surprise a secret from me.  Like a theatre performance everything was perfectly planned and orchestrated.  That year my birthday just happened to be on a Saturday. 

That morning John called me.  

"Sweet Adelaide, dahlin,' Martin and I are picking you 

up at 5pm to take you out to eat and we absolutely will NOT accept "no" for an answer!"

"But what if I have other..."  

"WE know you don't yet dear, so you just be ready at five and DRESS UP!  And honey, be sure you wear black!"

It didn't occur to me as to HOW those two knew I hadn't made any plans yet or why I HAD to wear black!🤣

At 5pm precisely I heard a very strange sounding horn tooting for me.  

I stepped out the door to find a long black old style hearse waiting at the road festooned with black balloons, and both John and Martin dressed up in very fancy black suits at it's side laughing.  Hysterically.🤣

So was I.😂

Of course when everyone else on the street heard the strange horn they too came out shocked to see such a strange scene unfolding!🤔

The hearse had been remodeled thankfully.  The area which once held the coffin now had seats of which I was flamboyantly escorted to.

Martin could not contain his excitement, "Oh are WE going to have SO much fun tonight, dear!"

Then both together, "Happy Birthday dahlin'!  We love you!"💕

There was room for six more and the first stop was to pick up five friends waiting for us.  Soon we were all in and heading out to eat.  One might have thought the plan was to eat somewhere snazzy, right?!!  Not with these guys!😂

They wanted to have as much fun with the hearse as possible so we went to...wait for it...a...car hop!🤣

Oh my gosh, you should have seen the looks on the faces of staff and other customers when we pulled up in this hearse festooned with black balloons!  At a car hop!😂

Sasha and the guys had gathered a bunch of hearse, funeral, and yes, even death jokes, then began pouring them out with gales of laughter as all of us were in hysterics while trying to eat.

We then made a stop at a small theatre to see...wait for it...a funny play about someone DYING...who was trying to cram some fun in before going!  The whole cast was in on the festivities too.  So after the theatre was finally empty we all gathered on the stage as the house lights were dimmed.

Suddenly from stage right came the lead cast member carrying a lighted birthday cake as everyone sang loudly "Happy Birthday" to me!  Such fun, camaraderie, and laughter!

Then it got serious for a bit.  I was asked what things I would yet like to do before things got worse, by Jason who played the dying one in the play.  I could think of two things at that moment.  One is something that has eluded me in being able to do which has been a burning desire to gallop a horse on a beach.  Yet I have galloped everywhere else.🐎😃🐎💕

The other?  

"To always...ALWAYS...continue to have these magical serendipitous moments like this with friends, laughter, creativity, fun, and horses filling my journey to the very end if possible."💕

The next stop was to our favorite bar, City Lights, which had an amazing rock band whose lead singer Priscilla, was a lady we all knew and loved.  Priscilla was in on the birthday festivities too and was the sixth one to join us after we closed City Lights down.

Our next stop was to all pile into a Waffle House for breakfast.  Imagine the shock when everyone saw a hearse pull up!😂

Finally, as the sun began coming up I was brought back home with fanfare to where the birthday of a lifetime all began.  It certainly WAS the birthday of a lifetime!😃

So this, my dear ones, is how Adelaide had the once in 

a lifetime experience of riding in a HEARSE...  

...ALIVE.🐎😂🐎💕💫