My New Hand Tooled Belt...The brite side of Epilepsy

I have wanted for such a long time a hand tooled belt. Why I wonder? Was it because of my love of horses and the workmanship I always saw on hand tooled saddles? The detail a person so painstakingly carved into the leather to give that saddle a life of its own. Was it the stories my grandfather told me about the west and how the cowboys carved those saddles? I don't know but what I did know was when I did have a horse of my own and wanted that hand tooled saddle and I knew it was out of my price range. I knew it was something I could only dream of. So I guess having a hand tooled belt was the next best thing.

Living in Maine let me tell you your not going to find a hand tooled belt so off to the back burner that went...........................

Until that is your sister Pam 3 and 1/2 years ago invites you to come to Oklahoma to visit her and see the real west! Sister Pam is a traveling gypsy. Not that she is a real gypsy no, She works for FEMA and when disaster hits Pam packs and goes and if the time is right little sister Beth gets to visit and this was a trip I got to visit and took Sarah with me.

We had planned on going to a big horse race but because of weather conditions we were advised not to go so what were three girls going to do in Oklahoma? Well shop of course silly. Pam wanting "real" cowboy boots and Sarah and I just tagging along for the sheer thrill of the whole cowboy shopping experience was just fun so off we go.

In and out all day long "how many boot stores can there be in Oklahoma City" I asked Pam?  "Oh about 50 or so" "WHAT are you kidding" NOPE she says and she was not, Never in my life have I seen so many boot stores.

The last store we were in Pam found her boots (silly of course it was the last store because we got to stop we found the boots DUH!!) but as I was standing watching her admire her boots I saw out of the corner of my eye  something that sparked a memory...............................

What was that I saw? I decided to take a look and as I walked closer my heart jumped a few beats, my eyes started to sparkle, my hands started to shake. There it was. My hand tooled belt. It was hanging on a rack with other belts but it was all alone by itself in my eyes for that is all I saw, MY BELT. I took it off and felt the tooling. I ran my hands over the workmen ship of the artist. I was in aww of the beauty before my eyes. Yes it was my belt for sure. It took me how long but I had found you my beloved belt!

I wrapped it around my waist knowing how great it would feel to meet the two ends as one........to meet the two ends as one...........I SAID TO MEET THE TWO ENDS AS ONE DAMN IT!!! come on it has to fit I came all the way to Oklahoma and found you, wait is there another one? excuse me Sir do you have a size larger? THIS IS THE LAST ONE IN STOCK, no, no please look again sir, I'm from Maine.........MAINE we don't have Hand Tooled Belts in Maine we have Lobsters and Bears and Blueberries we don't have Hand Tooled Belts PLEASEEEE look again? Sorry Ma'am in his long drawl this is the only belt left. My heart sank, What was I going to do now?

Well there was only one thing I could do, I came this far and I had no choice. I bought my Hand Tooled belt I had dreamed of owning since my days of sitting on my grandfathers lap hearing about the West and even though it took me over three years to do it, I did do it! I lost the weight (Topiramate is a killer on you appetite) and today the two ends meet as one and I wore my brand new three and a half year old HAND TOOLED BELT!!!!!