A Zebra CAN Change Its Stripes

Change is hard.  I’ve experienced how hard it is during this journey.  It’s hard to change habit, manner, and routine.  That’s the basis of the sayings:  A zebra can’t change its stripes and a leopard can’t change its spots.  Unless you’re Al Gore and then the zebra can’t change its spots, but that’s an entirely different discussion.

My “Someday” for this month is to restore my carousel horse (zebra).  She was fine as a zebra, but she’s my carousel horse (zebra) and my heart called for a red horse, not a zebra.  So, she’s been undergoing transformation and, though it’s a lot of work to change, she has changed her stripes.  There’s still one more coat of red paint to put on and then a lot of detail work, but here’s a progression of how she’s changing:

Here’s the “Before” picture.

A close-up of the dirt and decay that had to be cleaned off.

One coat of red paint — she’s beginning to change.

After a second coat, the morphing continues.

Third coat — I thought we were almost there.

Fourth coat — Transformation not quite complete.

A peek at what she will look like as a red horse, not a striped zebra.

So, zebras, like us, can change their stripes, it just takes a lot of work.