I take it back

A couple of posts back I claimed that Sophia's pappa is fearless, the other day I realized that this is not true. Hendrik is fearless when it comes to dark alleys, sleeping with windows/doors open, traveling to third world countries on his own, going out at sea in stormy weather, driving in crazy traffic etc. However, he is not fearless when it comes to horses, pigs, i.e. normal farm animals. I almost peed in my pants of laughter the other day as we were visiting a farm with Sophia, Hendrik, my father and myself. Hendrik did not dare approach the horses and when he saw the pigs he also moved away from the fence, so I realized that there are some things that he fears that I don't. I did not grow up on a farm but I have probably frequented farms much more than Hendrik who grew up in big cities, born in Rio de Janeiro. We went to the farm because Sophia has been talking about horseback riding ever since she started watching Pippi Långstrump (Pippi Longstocking) and I asked her if she wanted to go riding in Lapland, she said yes. We came, we saw the pony, paid the fare, stood in the queue and tried to watch the other animals (although Hendrik was scared). When it was finally Sophia's turn she agreed to the helmet and she was almost sitting on the back of the little pony when she said 'nej, bort' ('no, off'), I asked her if she was absolutely sure that she did not want to ride and yes she was absolutely sure. She said that she was a little 'blyg' ('shy') and that she would try again this summer. So that was that, but at least she tried and she now knows what it is to sit on a horse back. As far as her father is concerned, I don't know, I guess he also learned a thing or two :-)

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