There are many people who tell me I am easy going and can take a joke. Well I wasn’t always that way. When I moved in with my aunt and uncle, I was 10 years old, and the slightest insult, nickname, joke, or feedback could tick me off. I was a good kid, but I moved into a place where I thought life was finally going to be easy, and boy, did I get that wrong.

My Aunt Shari is a tall slim woman, but don’t let that fool you for her strength. She could whoosh a hay bale up and over the side of a pick-up truck easier than a linebacker on a football team could. She has cracked hands from continuous washing of plates and dishes in the sink, and then dyed from the colored frosting she uses on her cakes she makes for various people. The one thing everyone knows about her is that she is a horse lover.

Well when I first moved in, I was on cloud nine, but I wasn’t too happy to learn how to ride a horse. I was a slow learner, and Shari is a person who expected common sense in most people. Well, on one of these most adventurous days, Shari took my cousin Isaac, Kathlyn , and me out to ride a family horse of ours, named Bart. We drove down to Kathlyn’s grandma’s house in Shari’s old Chevy Suburban.

When we got there, Shari tried to pursue this old stubborn horse by giving him little horse snacks. Yelling over her shoulder,

“Keep close to the gate!” and “Isaac be careful!”

Shari tried not to show she was getting frustrated, but Bart was a thoroughbred and he still had lots of spirit in his old age. He ran, and ran in little circles because he had a sensitive mouth and he hates the bit. After all this delay, Shari told me to hop on the horse and make him listen to me. I got so mad and frustrated trying to make him walk, turn, and stop that I just wanted to quit.

Shari said, “Easy on his mouth, loosen the reins a little.”

I said, “I’m trying!!”

That response she didn’t like. She came up to the horse, halted him, loosened the reins, and then said, “There now turn him around and walk him back and forth. Halt him a couple of times and make him listen to you.”

After we were done riding Bart for the day, Aunt Shari went and brushed down the horse while Isaac, Kathlyn, and I piled into the Suburban. I started to cry because Isaac was joking about how I couldn’t ride a horse, and other things I can’t remember very well. Well I got mad and started arguing with him in between my tears. Shari came around the corner, got into the suburban, and slammed the car door. Very slowly she turned around, puckered her lips and said, “What’s going on?”

We all started talking at once, then she asked Isaac what happened. He said that he was just joking around with me. That made me mad, but what she said next was one piece of advice I would never forget.

“Liz, they are joking with you because they like you. Laugh about it even if they are being mean, it shows you don’t care what they think. It’s better than crying isn’t it?”

Many years later in high school, I had a friend say to me, “Liz, why do you take our jokes so well? Most people would be offended by what we say to you.” Well I usually like to tell stories and am long winded, but I decided to keep this one short and simple by saying, “Because I know you’re just joking, and it’s better than crying isn’t it?”

I admire my Aunt Shari and respect her very much. She has taught me a lot through the nine years I have lived with her. I could probably fill a whole book up with the lessons I have learned from her, but like I said before, sometimes I like to keep the stories short and simple, and just use what she taught me in life to the best of my ability.