The last Derby Post

This day was Derby Day twenty years ago.

In 1988 I was greatly overdue with our first child, whom we lovingly referred to as "Andrew" because we were sure he would be a boy and we didn't want to spoil the surprise by finding out for sure. Every member of my family watched me all the time, like I was the last Reese's Peanut Butter Egg left after Easter. I had outgrown all my maternity clothes and was reduced to wearing very large expandable sweatpants and t-shirts. I could throw in the fact that I had also "outgrown" the measuring tape that I had to check my waist size, but we don't really need to know that. (For future reference though, if you don't gain weight when you are pregnant, eat a pound of gummy bears a day. You won't have to worry about a lack of weight gain for long. And gummy bears are fruit flavored so I am sure they were healthy.) Just picture me LARGE.

The filly, Winning Colors won the Derby that year. And that Derby Day passed with no other excitement for us.

No baby, no winning pick for the race.

What we did not realize was that a little grey pony was born that day. A pony that would later find it's way into my daughter's heart (and my in-law's property) when she was two years old. (Yes, she was not "Andrew". Although I called her that for a day or two after she was born. Habits are hard to break.) So today is Archie's twentieth birthday. Happy Birthday, Archie! You've hardly aged at all.