I tell my babies that barn friends are different. There's a kinship between barn friends that inexplicably binds. Barn friends often become forever friends.

I was reminded of this last week when I rounded the corner and saw Meredith Wright standing outside the CLS Tack Shop. Her visit was a complete surprise. After 20 years of rarely seeing or talking to each other, there wasn't even a moment of awkwardness or hesitation. Meredith and I grew up together riding horses and running half wild at a wonderful riding academy in Danville,VA, named Grenadier Farm.

We were stinky barn rats, spending every second of our free time together with our best friends, Sandspur and Izzy. They were ordinary enough school horses, but in our eyes they were glorious, splendid steeds. I see them clearly right now standing in that old barn with its creaky wooden tack room floor. My toes throb because Snuffy Smith, that ornery, cantankerous

pony,  just stepped on them, again. I wipe cobwebs off the drink machine and slurp cold Pepsi from a grimy can. I smell the sweaty, crusty stench of summer saddle pads. I hear the squeak of metal cots and see flies coating our bunkhouse walls. I see Bugsy the Dalmatian licking our plates clean, and I feel giggles erupting from deep inside as we put the plates back in the kitchen cabinet ready for the next hungry kid. I can feel the pond water and gooey green algae dangling from our slimy selves after we sneak a swim. I can smell Mrs. Wiseman's 5 am coffee lace and see her loading the horses -- and then us -- into the horse van. I can see the creases in her leathery face, the cracks in her hands, and I hear her call me "Sweetie."

Mrs. Wiseman and her Grenadier Farm grew Meredith and me. That farm is home to our sweetest childhood memories. It's in our bones and blood. Even after all these years, we are Mrs. Wiseman's girls. And because of that, we're best friends still. No matter the years or challenges of our lives, we resume where we left off seamlessly.

I know firsthand how powerful a role a barn can play in a child's life. So I am ever mindful of my responsibility to the Cash Lovell kids. Cashlyn and my other barn babies are my reason for being. Horses raise great kids. Horses inspire great friendships. And I'm so blessed to have a bird's-eye view.