Birth of a Dressage arena

I've given birth. A couple of times, actually. 

I've watched the clock and counted contractions and breathed and pushed and sweated. I've also lay like a lump while the two-for-one specials arrived butt first into the world. 

"Oh, I have a baby now? Cool. Oh, now I have another one? Sweet. Alrighty then."

But at the end of all the waiting and sweating and puking and pushing there was this perfect little arrival(s) that just made you sit back, smile, and realize how beautiful life can be.

Until the works starts . . . 

Building a dressage arena was eerily similar. The waiting, the counting, the sweating, even the clock watching. Actually, it was more like calendar watching than clock watching, but I still sank my shoulders when my due date came and went without my bundle of sand being delivered. And the counting was more of a 'count the loads of clay while I squeeze my checkbook for a few more counts of ten'.

PUSH . . . .PUSH . . . Almost there!! Now just sign your name at the bottom of that check and we're all finished here.

All the waiting finally paid off and I now can gaze proudly at the beauty that now occupies a 20m x 60m space in my heart.

Until the work starts . . . 

Ta-Da!!