I've spent more time in hospital rooms than most people my age. Some of that is growing up around horses, and some of it is just being the kind of person who finds the ground faster than other people seem to. The thing nobody tells you about riding is that the ground is always closer than you think, and it is always harder than you remember. I've fractured my back. I've had more concussions than I can put in order anymore. I've been kicked in the face by an animal that outweighed me by a thousand pounds and didn't mean anything by it, and I walked into the ER that night holding a bag of frozen corn to my eyebrow trying to make small talk with the woman at the front desk.

The funny thing about that kind of injury is that you can't really hide it. As much as I tried, the stitches were there, and the swelling was there, and the scar is still there. I wear it every day. The horse does the talking for you. The doctor writes down what the horse said, and that's the end of it.

But there are other scars I don't have to wear every day, and those are the ones that get made in a different kind of room.