Horse Tales - by Jodi Walker

My husband received orders for Ft. Lewis back in 1983.  We were both ecstatic to be bringing our two children back to our home state, as we were both raised in Eastern Washington and met at Eastern Washington State College (EWSC), in 1972. 

We found a lovely home in University Place, six blocks from the Curran Apple Orchard.  I was a firm believer that our children, daughter, age four and an eighteen month old son, needed to get out of the house and explore our area on foot.  We soon found the orchard and the two somewhat friendly horses that roamed through the apple trees.  We also found the horses loved it when one fed them the apples on the ground that we could reach through the wooden fence or the carrots that we would bring with us on our 'mission' for the day!  We didn't know the horses names, but it was on the top of my kids "to go to" list when I asked them what they wanted to do for the next exploration of our new area.

We left University Place for Germany in 1986, but since, have returned to that same house, on that same street we left so many years ago.  Although our two kids are grown now, with families of their own, they all return every once in a while and we walk up to the orchard to "our" tree that we "adopted" in memory of those cherished years of feeding "Brewster" and "Christopher". 

And soon, I will gaze upon the bronze statue of the little girl feeding "Brewster" and I will think of my own little girl... way back when.