By Stephen C. Schultz
The weather was wonderful—about 55 degrees Fahrenheit with blue skies. The warm sun bathed my face as the sage and junipers swayed gently in a cool breeze blowing from the West. There is nothing quite like the smell of sage growing wild in the high mountain deserts of the Southwest.
I was sitting on a small boulder outside the kitchen at Discovery Ranch South. DRS is a residential facility that provides personal and customized care to young teenage girls who struggle with emotional concerns.
I walked up some stairs and into the lodge (kitchen and eating area), where I heard some discussions taking place. I walked in and saw five girls being instructed on how to make a cobb salad. One girl was slicing tomatoes, another had cut up celery, one was chopping lettuce, and a girl at the stove was boiling eggs and cooking bacon. They were smiling, talking, laughing, learning, feeling, and simply being "normal" teenage girls!
I heard the dull roar of conversation as the rest of the girls entered the lodge to eat lunch. I walked out of the kitchen to the dining area, and one of the girls ran up to me and said,
“Hi, Steve! I got to ride my horse today!”
“Good for you!” I responded. “It’s good to see you again.”
She smiled and then walked off to get in line for lunch. What she didn’t know was that I noticed the scratches and raw, pink-colored sores on her arms. I started talking with a different girl and a therapist who had just walked into the room. We slowly made our way to the lunch line. I ended up standing next to the first girl, the one who had ridden her horse earlier in the day. I looked at her arm again and said,
“You do that with a pencil eraser?”
She responded, “Yeah, I got in a bad headspace not too long ago.”
“You OK now?” I asked, raising an eyebrow with a sincere tone.
“Yeah,” she said a little sheepishly.
I replied, “That’s good! The important thing is that you work through it and heal on the inside as well as on the outside. I imagine riding your horse is really helpful.”
She simply looked up and smiled, a twinkle in her eye. Then she turned, grabbed a plate, served herself some salad and tacos, and sat down with the other girls at the table.
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