Dear Wigleaf,

I am not writing to you from atop a horse, but I want you to know I could have been a cowgirl. I had opportunities in that area—nearby cattle, grandpas in cowboy boots, family land, family saddles, my own horse. Her name was a joke that I liked to tell: "I'm Janelle Barr and this is my horse, Candy Bar."

Candy Bar knocked me off her back when I was five. I wasn't seriously hurt but my shoe fell off. This upset me. "Candy Bar knocked my shoe off!" I told everyone I knew. I stopped riding my horse, stopped speaking to her, stuck my tongue out at her. There's a photo of this moment. I'm wearing a Coca Cola t-shirt with cut-off shorts and I'm really leaning into my tongue thrust so there's no doubt in Candy Bar's mind as to how I'm feeling about the shoe thing.

That's the kind of person I am.

 Janelle