Seventeen revelations that made today a great learning experience:

1) Rain makes outdoor church picnics more fun.
2) Ponies bring out the best in people, even when they're wet.
3) Cutting the grass in a pasture with a finish mower stirs up incredible numbers of bugs but effectively spreads manure in the process, if you go slowly enough.
4) A two wheeled pony cart can magically transport two small children and one hopelessly immature adult driver to a land of wonder and back again - with a little help from a gravel road, a lively shetland and a bold rabbit.
5) Bumblebees are terrifying, when you're four.
6) Most adults these days have no idea how to act around ponies, but small children are instinctively cautious of their teeth.
7) Some people really do notice your contribution to the lives of those around you.
8) I have inadvertently trained the herd to see me as a lead mare in one pasture and a sheep dog in the other, and I have no idea when it happened.
9) Children with grass are much more interesting than adults with treats and lead lines.
10) The best way to escape the crowd is to do something for or with the kids.
11) Missouri is apparently the home to pony eating rabbits - terrifying beasts that could hop out of tall grass at any time and therefore require constant vigilance from at least one ear at all times.
12) Sandals are good shoes to wear to church picnics in the country - especially when the cars will be parked in the pasture, and you want to amuse the pasture's owner.
13) Gravel roads have more character when viewed from a pony cart.
14) The last people to leave any event will always be the ones who like each other and want to talk.
15) City people do not understand the fact that metal trash cans might be used for something besides putting trash in - like storing feed.
16) "Pot luck" means everyone brings their best or favorite foods - guaranteed to be a treat for adventurous eaters.
17) The folks who help you clean up after everyone else has gone are the ones who love you.

The huge smile currently still plastered on my face is entirely due to those seventeen items, and the fact that everything is finally back in order. Guests have gone home, ponies are back in their pasture, and I've had a shower. Yay! I'm also mildly dehydrated, slightly sunburned and totally physically exhausted. Reminder for next year - get volunteers for cleanup before the line for food starts. Hmm. Or maybe during the lineup....

There is a story for every "revelation" above. And that might just be the best learning experience of all.

Life is fun!