10/31/2024
And just like that…
The week all of us crazy rabbit people look forward. The bunny Super Bowl. 5 days of eating out and hotel coffee. The marathon of socializing. The banquets. The booths. The shopping. The anticipation. The Wins. The Defeats… A week of high emotions… all driven by the common passion and enthusiasm so breeding and exhibiting pure bred rabbis… the 101st ARBA convention comes to an end.
Another year of very solid placings for my rabbits, most in the top 10 and the many of those even cracking into the top 5 in some very competitive classes. The highest placing was number one in colored wool with Wool-f Packs Dean. So definitely leaving grateful for another year and with fire to come back to try to top this years placings. Despite not leaving the big winner of the show. I did leave Convention feeling like I had definitely won in so many more ways.
As I reflected on the week on my drive home I couldn’t help but be completely overwhelmed with gratitude and feeling accomplished. I came to convention with 23 rabbits and came home with 9. Three of the nine rabbits I came home with were gifts and my heart was so full from the love that came from those gifts I couldn’t help but fight away some tears.
When I started back into raising jersey woolies I definitely got an amazing start from DeAnn and Niles Boulier. They set me up with a trio of rabbits who I bred my first home bred champion out of. As I grew my herd I collected some rabbits from some other breeders but I so badly wanted something from Michelle and Cody Landis. I kept hearing about this rabbit they had named “Panda” so I knew I needed a piece of that pie. Michelle brought me 2 rabbits on a trip to Ohio and from one of those rabbits I produced my herd Buck Dean. As a thank you I wanted Michelle to pick out a doe from a litter. Fast forward to a month ago I get a message and Michelle tells me that she’s bringing me a baby out of the doe she picked and I couldn’t have been more excited. I thought to myself, “THIS IS WHAT ITS ABOUT!” Helping each other reach goals and building these relationships.. I felt honored and loved and was counting down the days till I would get that awesome Michelle hug and get to meet my new herd member.
But it didn’t stop there. Last year I put Wool-f Packs Tonka in the GFA as my contribution. It was a sable buck I had most definitely planned to keep for my own projects, but I felt inclined to offer up something from my herd that I would be so proud of. When I selected him I wasn’t sure if he would have been appreciated the same way I did. I was even nervous he wouldn’t sell. But Kathy Morbe saw him and said she loved his presence and needed to have him. She took him back to Texas and made a whole show string of Champions from him! I was so proud that he made such an impact there! Then I received a message from Kathy saying, as a thank you she wanted me to have first pick of the 4 babies she was bringing to convention out of Tonka to take home. I was again so touched and so excited … I couldn’t wait to see them. One of those rabbits was a beautiful sable Martin does that I couldn’t take my eyes off and suddenly I was going home from convention with another very exciting new herd member! As convention rolled on through its schedule I just felt like I had such a great year that not much could have added to it whether I won Best in Show or was first off the table in a class. I felt the blessings for sure. I was so excited to get to the Golden Fleece Auction to see a couple of my rabbits be donated to give a little bit of the blessing back to this group of people who had poured into me. Before the auction the Father of one of the Youth kids I had been helping had asked me which rabbits I thought would be good ones to bid on, and who I would go for if I was bidding. I had mentioned a few that caught my eye and thought would be beneficial in any herd. As the auction went on, one of the does I mentioned as a particular favorite came up for bid. The father of the youth started to bid on her and I was so thrilled that they always saw the potential and trusted me in the process of building a herd. When the bidding was over they had won the doe and I was so excited for them. After all the rabbits were sold in the auction the youth and her dad walked up with their new doe and she had such a big smile on her face! I couldn’t help but smile too! But in a very quick moment that youth extended her arms out with the doe in her hands and put her into mine! She said “here she’s yours!” I could have crumbled to the floor instantly (but I didn’t in concern for the rabbits safety). Tears filled my eyes and as they did I could see this little girls chin start to quiver because there was such a moment of true friendship and love shared there. By no means was this expected for me. But I felt so loved that I couldn’t fight the emotions. That little youth was Carlie Boling and her parents Kevin and Julie Boling. They seriously blew me away with their generosity and love towards me. I couldn’t have even dreamed to have met friends like this. And with such an act of love and friendship I now had a THIRD new herd member!
It’s impossible to leave not feeling like I didn’t win when I had a week of being around people who understand and love you. People who pour into you and fill your cup to overflowing. MY CUP RAN OVER! And I could have filled thousands more with the love I felt!
So thank you to everyone from the volunteers I never met, to the colleagues and fellow exhibitors who make the competition fun, the strangers who introduced themselves, the judges, the writers, the runners, the committee members… but most of all the friends and FAMILY who allow me to love this crazy hobby!
Here’s to the 101st ARBA CONVENTION!
See ya next year in Indy good Lord willing!
Ps… special thanks to Dawn Guth for letting me borrow some carriers to get the extra buns to the show…❤️
