Housewives and Horses

A few weekends ago, while Eric and Ty were in Tuscaloosa watching the Tide play, I took Tess and Amelia to see the movie, Secretariat. Tess and Amelia love horses and I love history so this was good for all of us. All in all the movie was great. We cried, we clasped hands and held our breaths, then clapped and cheered (even though no one else did). Tess was wearing a large smile when the movie was over, and even though Amelia was sound asleep and had to be carried out, the next morning when I asked her, she said she liked what she saw.

During the movie, Tess looked at me with shining eyes and said with a voice filled with awe, "She never gave up!" She was refering to Penny Tweedy Chenery, Secretariat's owner and the heroine of the story. We couldn't help but admire her conviction and perseverance. If she had quit when others said that Secretariat could not win, he would have never won the Triple Crown and made history (I hope this doesn't ruin the end of the movie for anyone! Ha!).

I liked the movie a lot but as I pulled out of the parking lot, my mind was turning with questions. I remembered the look on Tess's face. Are this woman's actions something that I want Tess to admire? Yes, she, her team and her horse accomplished many things, but they came with a heavy cost.

I have never read the book and don't know Penny Chenery personally so I don't know what really happened but if the movie was true to life, I wonder at some of the choices she made. She chose to leave her home and family in Denver to travel to Virginia often even when her husband didn't want her too. One scene shows her crying while listening to her daughter sing over a phone because she missed her flight and could not be there. She made a decision that could have ruined not only her family's finances but her extended family's as well. She made these decision's over and over against the desire of her husband.

At the end of the movie, before Secretariat runs his last race to win the Triple Crown, there is a scene where her children and her husband embrace Penny and tell her how proud they are of her. It all ended well. But I think of how extraordinary these circumstances are.

What if she had been wrong? What if the horse had become hurt or ill? What if the jockey couldn't ride anymore? What if the financial backing had not come? Would it have all been worth it then? Would her husband be proud of her then? Or would he be resentful? Would her children be admire her or would they have been bitter because she chose to leave them to race a horse? If she had lost their home with her gamble, would they have felt it was worth it?

I do feel that if God leads one to do something, you should do it. Whatever brings Him glory is worth time and sacrifice. I am sure there were times Billy Graham left his family at home for weeks at a time. I just wonder if winning the Triple Crown was worth the time she lost with her children, worth the strife that it created between she and her husband., worth the respect that he lost when she defied him and didn't submit to his leadership. Would it not have been just as admirable to live a quiet life as a housewife and mother?

I know it is a choice that each woman has to make. I am not saying that her choice was right or wrong. Someone might wonder at the life that I have chosen. I just struggle with balance between family and outside obligations. I value the time I have a home so much it makes me wonder at one who willingly gives it up, when she had every opportunity to have it. I want Tess to see that her daddy and I make decisions together and not on our own. I want Tess to know that the way the world looks at a life and the way the Lord looks at it are two different things. I want her to realize that each step she takes is important and to walk them carefully.

Yes, sometimes I make simple things complicated.

We don't have to think the same way, we just need to think.