Testing God - Meet Mark and Tammy

Mark and Tammy, UB’s ride to the race, had horses in training as well. Tammy is a trainer, and Mark an ex-jockey.

We first met the couple when they shipped in to the barn in which we were stabled at Victory Haven. They were like two peas in a pod—neither of them ever met a stranger. They both had bright smiles and big dimples. Their infectious laughs and down-hominess made it easy to get to know them and even easier to like them. And none of this belied the tragedy that ultimately brought them together.

Mark was currently sporting a pair of crutches, necessary to keep weight off his (yet again) severely broken leg. Mark’s competitive nature landed him in a barrel racing competition with his step-daughter Sara, but Mark’s horse lost its footing it fell, mangling Mark’s leg in the process.

As a jockey, Mark was honored with an Eclipse Award. This is the highest honor our sport bestows, and Mark was certainly deserving. His natural talent in the saddle landed him in the winner’s circle over 2,000 times over the course of his career. But within the past few years, he had hung up his tack for good.

Tammy had been married previously, and her first husband, Mike Rowland, was also a jockey. Mike was killed as the result of a horrific accident at Turfway Park in February of 2004. Three riders in all, including Mark—at that time a good friend of Mike—went down in the spill. Mark, too, was seriously injured.

The string of horses that Tammy trained was stabled at Turfway. Having finished up at the barn for the day, she had gone home to their studio apartment across the street to be with Sara, their daughter.

When the call came that there had been a bad spill involving Mike, Tammy was back at the track within minutes, just in time to speak to her husband for the last time while he was still conscious. Mike’s injuries were so severe that he was awaiting transport to a Cincinnati hospital instead of being taken to the hospital directly across the street from the racetrack.

None of this immediately crossed my mind upon first meeting Mark and Tammy, and we didn’t get the full story until much later. But falling squarely in the category of “the Lord works in mysterious ways,” once I did remember, it brought full circle for me an incident that had been haunting me for a few years.

Daily Notes: I am behind on postings as I was waiting to speak to Mark and Tammy to receive their OK to tell their stories. They are very powerful, and will unfold as this blog progresses.

On a personal note, blessings abounded this Valentine’s weekend as Jerry and I went to a marriage enrichment retreat that our church arranged.

Apparently my Facebook status, which simply said “Shon Wylie is going to enrich her marriage this weekend” concerned a few people. Oddly, more than one person called me to make sure we weren’t going through a rough patch.

Jerry has always been the overly competitive half of the equation, but as soon as one of our ministers offered a gift certificate to an area restaurant as the prize for the Newlywed Game, I was all over it. I volunteered, and we kicked major butt. Of course, we probably have an advantage since we are virtually never apart. And I’m ashamed to say that the only two questions we missed were my mess up, not Jerry’s.

But I must report a personal screw-up as well. I am also ashamed to say that my behavior yesterday most certainly didn’t make God smile. In fact, I’d say it made him cringe. I wasn’t very pleasant to a server at an event we attended, because she wasn’t very pleasant to me. And this after sitting through a sermon which stressed the importance of letting people see God through how we act, more than what we say. Because, after all, the first thing is much more difficult to do than the second.

I must try to correct this, so I will be sending a note to this woman with my apologies. Of course it may be awhile until she gets it, as the mailman will need sled dogs to get to us today!