So Robert and I are not quite half way through our week long cruise. Last night we celebrated Robert’s birthday with many of our favourite friends which made it extremely special. Today, Wednesday, we are docked in Puerto Rico and went for a nice walk to see some of the island. Ron already lost his camera from which I had intended to send back pics from the trip but here are a few from my phone.
Love to all.
RD

Fort in Puerto Rico

Robert Ross in front of the fort

I can think of no greater hero in my life than my life-partner of 20 years, Robert Ross. It’s not just because I know exactly what he’s had to deal with for the past two decades of being my beloved. Yes, the rumours that I am slightly high maintenance just might be true, but it is really everything else about Robert’s life that puts him in a class of his own.

Robert went to work in a restaurant and later found employment in a printing company where, at the ripe old age of 17, he was already managing the company. Life was not easy at all for Robert, but his amazing spirit and determination made people love him. Though he had left high school earlier in order to earn enough to get by, Robert passed his GED, and received his diploma at the age of 16. Many people would have gotten into trouble in his position, but Robert was in love with horses and, at the age of 22 had saved up enough money to fly out to New Jersey to train with the legendary George Morris. As fate would have it, I was also keeping my horses at George’s Hunterdon Farm and for me it was love at first sight.
OK, so maybe a little more lust than love at first sight, but I definitely knew Robert was very special and, after he left back for LA, I couldn’t get him out of my mind.

We stayed in touch and went on our first official date in the winter of 1989, and have been together ever since. And the last 20 years of being with Robert has truly been the most incredible I could ever have conceived.

Right away Robert saw that my business, Romance Farm Inc., was not running efficiently, and so he took over and made it one of the most successful in the Dressage industry. He was so good at what he did that, travelling along with the US Equestrian Team on our World Championship Tour in 1990, he was made our Team Manager and was the first to actually bring home a substantial profit to the organization after all expenses.

As his experience grew in the hunter/jumper industry, Robert began to work as a professional trainer of kids and adults and brought along several kids who are among the most successful in America today. But, all of this is really not why I think of him as my greatest hero.

Robert has an amazing heart! He is a person who is constantly trying to change the world for the better. Not having children of our own, Robert began sponsoring one child in India, and now we sponsor approximately 20 kids around the world, and he stays in constant touch with these children with letters and personal gifts beyond the money normally sent.

Along with myself and Mason Phelps, Robert founded the Equestrian AIDS Foundation in 1996. He had always worked to help those living with HIV, volunteering for AIDS benefits for Marianne Williamson’s out in LA, and later working for her Manhattan Centre For The Living. Robert has gone on to sit on the Executive, Applicant Review, and Finance Committees of the now “Equestrian Aid Foundation”, which two years ago began helping people in the horse world suffering from any life-threatening illness or catastrophic injury.

Robert has an amazing thirst for knowledge and has read biographies on every president as well as many other political icons. His desire to learn has brought him back to school, taking university classes online with the objective of getting his B.A. in business. At the same time Robert has gotten his real estate license and, even in these uncertain times, has become extremely successful. I believe this is due to his honesty and incredible work ethic. Besides my mother, Robert is the only person I know of whom I have never heard a disparaging word uttered. He is truly loved by all who know him.

For all these things and too many more I give you my inaugural Out For Good Hero, Robert Ross.

A little over 5 months ago Robert gave me my birthday present; one that I expressly told everyone I did not want- a puppy. I said it again and again- I was not ready! I had, in all honesty, spoken a few times and referred to the thought that I was beginning to consider the possibility of entertaining the notion of perhaps contemplating the idea of just maybe in the future but most definitely not now or anytime in the immediate space and time continuum- getting a dog.

So Robert said he had to run out at 9:30 pm to pick up my present which was ostensibly down the road at our friend’s place, ostensibly to keep it hidden from me and because ostensibly, it had been late arriving due to some manufacturing problem. Hmmm. Anyway, I waited and 10:00pm went by and so did 10:30pm and 11:00pm and by 11:30pm I’m wondering where the hell my boyfriend has gone for this “gift”.

And then it hit me, so I called him and when he picked up I said, ” You got me a dog, didn’t you?” and he said, ” I am driving in the garage right now so come and meet me”. And as I walked out to meet him I said ” I told you I wasn’t ready for a dog and I meant it ( Our last dog had died 5 years ago at the age of 18 and I still wasn’t over it) “. And he said, ” Just shut up and close your eyes and put out yur hands!” So I did while still complaining, saying, ” I can’t believe that you would do this when I expressly told you I was not, in any way shape and form–”  and then I opened my eyes and saw little Simon in my hands and said, ” OK!”

And that was that. Simon is a designer breed called a Schnoodle, which is half Schnauzer and half Poodle and is of the miniature variety. But he obviously got all the genes from the Schnauzer side because everyone think he is a pure bred, so I decided that instead of calling him a Schnoodle I would rename him a “Schnauzel”. Regardless he is adorable and now, at almost 8 months old, he has Robert and I almost perfectly trained.

I have loved and lived with Robert Ross for 20 years and in our 21 year, after all this time, I am truly hoping that we can get married! We’ve been talking about it for a long time and I actually proposed a couple of years ago on a cruise we took with our best friends. And I am sure we would have already tied the knot if a lot of unforeseen circumstances had not all occurred, seemingly simultaneously. You see, we had invested almost all our savings with our “best friend” and have been waiting for what we were promised was to be the “windfall of a lifetime” to manifest. The problem is that it was supposed to happen for the last 2 years and still hasn’t. As you can imagine, this has caused unbelievable stress to us, our relationship which thank God is even stronger than ever, and our friends and family who were caught up in our misfortune.

And so we have been waiting for our ship to finally come in so we could celebrate our love for each other and all our friends, including the one with all our money, with a great party. Well we are still waiting, but my parents are having very big health issues and we are running out of time, and at the same time the battle over our right to marry has now left California as not an option for the moment. We had hoped to have a small wedding in Palm Springs and have my brother, who is a retired Superior Court Judge, officiate. I hope we can do it still, next June, somewhere nice, because Robert and I are no longer going to wait for our money to come in order to celebrate our love for each other. If we have to, we will just make it a smaller celebration that we can afford and hope that someday, our old friend will live up to his promise and make it possible for us to through the biggest, grandest party we could imaging for all our wonderful friends and family.