You Know My Name, But Not My Story

Everyone has a story and everyone's story includes times of darkness, struggle, joy, pain and growth.  Period.  As Plato stated: Always be kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle.  What is your story?   Some portions of our story are best forgotten, but the strength and growth from those portions are what have molded us into what we are today.  Celebrate the valleys as well as the mountaintops, for without them both, we wouldn't be who we are.  The important thing is that you should laugh when you can, appologize when you should and let go of what you can't change. 

Last night's Sparkles and Spurs Cowgirl Rodeo was held, for the first time in Vernon.  It really brought back a lot of memories/desires/passions  for me.  Now that I'm about twice the age of these gals who travel and rodeo together, I realize that if I hadn't been climbing peaks in Colorado, working cattle for local ranchers, leading backcountry trips for Adventure Experiences, parachuting and living in a tent while I taught at my first job out of college...I probably would have been doing what these girls are doing...if I knew that it even existed! Seems like the older you get the less adventurous your life gets... Zack and I spent the afternoon looking through old photo albums - look what we found!

Wind River Range  (outside of Lander, Wyoming) February 1984 - I traveled 40 miles on skis, carried an 80 pound pack and had to build igloos and quinzee huts along the way...12 days... -35 degrees and 10ft of snow. It was quite possibly the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.

1st hunting experience 8:30am opening morning- Trinity, Texas 1987...biggest buck killed  in that area for many years! Dressed out at 130 lbs.

Technical mountaineering in Colorado - ice axes, crampons and ropes...Don't we look young?

1989 boning the elk out on tarps, early morning after the kill (Dyke's kill). Then packing the meat out (85lbs)...

 First antelope hunt October 1992 Rocker B Ranch, outside of San Angelo, Texas - shot 2 antelope (buck/doe) with 1 shot. (Dyke happened to be in the Game Warden Academy and word of my "citation" quickly made it down to Austin...it's a good thing I was hunting with a former sheriff, who could vouch for my "story")...

Gathering cattle on Ace, at Star Mine - Upper Taylor River. 1989

1993 Fall Round up - Union Park, Colorado - sorting pairs on Elvira.

Sunrise in Union Park, Colorado - Fall Round up on Elvira 1993

Summer 1989 on Comanche - moving cattle down Taylor Canyon. It was a drought year and the dust was thick.

1993 Matagorda, Texas - moving cattle to fall grazing on the penninsula.  We had to swim the cattle across the lower Colorado River to the peninsula. The current wasn't too bad, but the calves sure had a hard time!



Rock climbing above the Potomac River in Maryland...1985

 

I suppose as we age, we continue to experience adventures of one sort or another.  For some, the caliber of adventure hangs from a variety of worrisome variables...health, risk, money, or knowing your new limitations...I think the adventures shift and sometimes fade as the afternoon of our lives approaches. It's something that just happens.  You don't really think about it... A new chapter. A new phase. A new awareness. 

Working cattle-shipping calves- in Bay City, Texas 1999

 I can easily say that I am not comfortable with this recent "new space" and yearn for the risktaker that I know is buried somewhere within. I once knew her well.

I guess you do what you can, with what you have, where you are and give thanks to God for everything.  I believe we were all given the life that we have because God knew we were strong enough to live it.