The heart is a delicate thing

I was wandering around the grocery store doing normal life things and thinking about Fire, the oldest horse at the farm as well as some other things that are going on.
It seems that Fire may be in the end stages of her life. This past weekend she had a fever and a racing heart. In the process of trying to determine what was wrong the vet took a belly tap. The fluid showed that Fire had cancer. No idea how long she has had it, but it seems as though it has spread and there is no way to tell how long she has left. Fire is the horse that knocked me over two years ago and trampled me breaking my left shoulder (not on purpose and not out of meanness). And I love her. She is a beautiful, delicate looking little Arabian with the prettiest prance ever, and the way she twirls her tail over to poop is amazing. She is mostly black (with some gray sneaking in), but she has a wonderful cinnamon color around her nose that I just adore.
It just seemed crazy to be grocery shopping knowing what's going on in the world and how many hearts are beating in this world and how many will stop during the time I was in the store. Of course there is the miracle of life and in those same amount of minutes I am in the store, many new hearts will start beating and begin their earthly journey. All new little creatures are more than adorable and capture my heart including the little tiny cottontail bunny that lives close to my house. It is so cute and it could fit in the palm of my hand. Yet everyday I have to worry over it hoping it's okay and that some predator won't get it, or that it won't race across the street and get hit by a car. Life is precarious and oh so short sometimes.
As strong as the heart is, it appears to be so delicate of a thing, like fine lace. I read that it beats about 100,000 times or so every 24 hours and depending on how long you live it will beat between 2 to 3 billion times in a life that goes to the 80's. Quite amazing don't you think considering how often it gets broken by friendships, family doings, children, and we haven't even talked about the thing that consumes our heart most often.......LOVE?
I have often said that life is too short. I usually follow that up with the thought that you should have fun at every given opportunity during that short time. I still think that although I can't feel the laugh right now while I am contemplating the shortness of things.
While I am typing this, my husband is here in the same room playing his guitar and singing all kinds of songs....some by the way that just escape me and I wonder where in the world they ever came from, but he just now started singing "a burning ring of Fire".
The hearts truest desire....to beat strong and true and to know the feeling of the burning ring of Fire.
Love. Fire. Hearts. Beginnings. Endings.
Life is short. Live it fully. Laugh out loud. Love in the burning ring of Fire.