It’s been more than two decades—28 years to be exact. I can’t believe how the sun has risen and set for 10,220 days and yet, I can look at this photo and instantly feel the same joy-filled and grateful emotions that I felt in San Luis Obispo, California on the Memorial Day weekend of 1993 when I led Freedom out of that boarding stable corral. It was a day of redemption and renewal. He had been gone for twelve years but he was finally homeward bound—back to the ranch where he was born.

I didn’t know then that the blessing of having Freedom back in my life had much more meaning. It would take years of life lessons and self-discovery to realize that Freedom would instead be the one leading me to my purpose.