It had been a rough year, filled with life’s challenges, changes, and moves.  I was working full-time, going to school full-time working on a B.S., and I was a full-time single mom of two children, having recently ended an unhealthy marriage.  My son, Zac, was 8, and my daughter, Madison, was 3.  I was determined that things were going to be fine.  They had to be.  God wanted that for me.  On one particularly stressful morning, I was on the phone with my sister, Diane, complaining about many things that I had no control over.  She listened, counseled, and prayed with me on the phone, and encouraged me to hand over the controls to God.  Great advice, as always.  With that I headed to work. 
I worked in downtown Orlando, and we had an office in Tampa, which is sort of across the state.  This particular morning I was heading to our Tampa office to work for the day.  I was driving down I-75 West, listening to the radio, enjoying the sunshine, when suddenly I see a car on the opposite side of the highway, lose control and drive right through the median into my side of the interstate.  It didn’t appear to be slowing down.  There was a minivan in the lane next to me.  This car was coming so fast at both of us.  We barely had time to react and hit the brakes, but somehow we managed briefly, before both of us were hit head on by this car.  It hit the right front corner of the minivan, sending it rolling off the road, and hit my car head on, mostly on the left side of the front of my car, bringing mine to a complete stop and completely smashing in the front.  The car that hit us somehow ended up behind me. 
The family of 3 in the van, 3 of the 4 men in the car that hit us, and I, all walked away from the accident.  One man was injured badly enough that he was unable to get out of the car, so was awaiting an ambulance.  An incredibly wonderfully, nice witness called in the accident and upon much persuasion from my boss, the witness, and the paramedics that arrived, I was convinced to be checked out at the hospital.  They were all certain that once the adrenaline wore off, I would be in worse shape than I was aware.  With that I was strapped to a backboard and whisked away in an ambulance to the emergency room.  A dear friend of mine, and my boss’s best friend, was notified to meet me at the hospital, since clearly my car was not inoperable.  Additionally, my boss didn’t think I should be there alone.
Now comes the crazy part.  While in the hospital hallway (the E.R. was so busy there were no rooms available), I lay there strapped to the backboard on the gurney, awaiting x-rays.  A policeman came to ask me questions about the accident.  Since I could not really look anywhere but up, I found myself staring at the ceiling while I answered.  I was feeling very alone, and very worried about what was going on and where all this was going to leave me, my kids, and what was ahead.  I asked him if he could hand me my cell phone so I could see what time it was.  10:30 a.m.  That moment will forever be etched in my brain, because it was at that moment I noticed a dragonfly on the ceiling.  I asked the officer if he saw the dragonfly.  He asked me if I wanted him to shoo it away.  I quickly answered no.  What I didn’t tell the officer was that, as I had looked up at that little dragonfly, I heard the words whispered to me “I am with you”, and I suddenly felt like someone had just wrapped their arms around me.  At that moment, I somehow relaxed and felt comforted.  I told the officer that the dragonfly was my “buddy” and was keeping me company.  He chuckled, finished his questions and assured me everything would be fine.  My friend got to the hospital around the same time the medical professionals came to take me back for x-rays.  When we finished the x-rays, they took me back to the hallway.  That dragonfly was still there, in the hallway, on the ceiling, sending comforting energy my way.
Well, eventually I got released from the backboard, and released from the E.R. with nothing but strains, contusions, a swollen face, and a really sore back and neck.  We left the hospital to find out that my car was, in fact, totaled.  I called work to let them know what my status was, and my friend, Kathy, said she was so glad that I was okay and that’s when she let me know that at exactly 10:30 a.m. she had said a prayer that God would send me an angel to comfort me and let me know I was not alone!  “You what!?” I asked her.  I was astonished.   I realized that is exactly what God did.  He sent an angel in the form of that dragonfly, to make sure I knew I was not alone and would be fine.  I really did feel those arms around me, and hear those words whispered in my ear.  I was not alone.  Everything would, indeed, be fine.  And it was.
Fast-forward to several years later, in 2008.  My mother had passed away the previous year.  That was a super difficult loss for me.  I was 4 years into a marriage to a super wonderful man, and he had taken a job in Charlottesville, Virginia.  He knew it had always been my dream to have a horse, so he promised if we moved from my home state, Florida, to Virginia, we would look into getting a horse.  As much as I didn’t want to leave the rest of my immediate family in Florida, it did seem like a wonderful place to raise the kids.  Also, the thought of having a horse… no way I could say no to THAT!  
So, a year after moving to Virginia, I received a small inheritance from my mother’s passing.  It was typical of me to put the kids, the family, the house, the bills, before my desires.  However, the rest of my family was urging me to put the money towards my dream of finally having my own horse.  As I sat on my back porch, contemplating all of this a dragonfly came by and hung around a plant right in front of me.  As clear as if she had been sitting next to me, I heard my mom’s voice saying “honey, this is your chance to finally get the pony.”  You see, most birthdays, and Christmases, my mother would send me a beautiful card with something lovely written inside, and at the end would say, “sorry, no pony this year.”  Finally, my opportunity was here to “get the pony”. 
She lived right next door, a beautiful, black, Connemara named Sara.  My neighbor was getting ready to sell her and ship her off to New York, where she was to be a broodmare.  My husband, kids, and I met her, had discussions, looked at several other horses, and then made the leap.  I purchased Sara, my very first horse.  There have been ups and downs, and fabulous times and struggles, but I have never, ever regretted listening to that dragonfly about making my dream come true.  Sara is that dream come true. We have since added to the herd, and now is our chance to give back.

The Story of the Dragonfly Dream

I am with you

​​​Dragonfly Dreams Horse Farm, LLC