Better Now Than Forever

Char thought she had a perfect life. She was married to a successful surgeon who was kind, committed, and willing to provide Char with anything that made her happy. What made her happy, besides her perfect marriage, was her dressage horse, Mystic, (never mind the cost). And now that a new trainer was moving to Blue Ribbon from Hamburg, Germany, she would have the ability to take her dressage riding to the highest level possible. With everything going so perfectly, Char shouldn’t have had any reason not to be happy. But something had been missing in her relationship with Dr. Kelley, (otherwise known around the hospital as “Dr. Dreamy”), and she couldn’t figure out what it was. When Char finally met Petra, the new dressage trainer, Char became more than just a little star-struck. She was, quite frankly, infatuated, and wanted to spend every waking second at the barn…and with her. What was going on? At first, Char thought it was her fascination with the foreign trainer from Germany who was riding at the Olympic level. But when Petra gave Char a goodbye kiss that was more reminiscent of a French kiss than a platonic one, Char was forced to take a look at what was really going on inside her. Char may not have wanted to take a hard look at herself and risk screwing up her near-perfect life, but having Petra so close ultimately forced the issue if Char ever wanted to move forward and find true happiness. Char was afraid of the answer. What would happen to her and her perfect life? How would she be able to afford her privileged lifestyle and her horse (including the dressage lessons,) that she had grown so accustomed to enjoying? Perhaps she was simply going through a mid-life crisis or was in awe of the new trainer from Germany. Ultimately, Char knew she must find out. She became more afraid of not knowing, than of what the truth might reveal.