Under the Wire

I was gassing up my pickup a while back when a beat up pickup pulling an equally well used trailer full of saddled horses pulled to the pump beside mine.

The driver stepped out to start his pump and I recognized him as a rancher who lived about 50 miles north of me. Remembering he also was a double tough roper and this being a weekend, I made a mental note he was probably on his way to a team roping somewhere. I also had the thought that his roping fortunes must not have been going well recently. This wasn’t exactly the fanciest rig to pull into a cowboy extravaganza. He saw me standing there and nodded “hello.”

“On the rodeo trail?” I asked, overlooking his obvious lack of success lately.

He walked over to me sticking out his hand to shake mine. Looking me straight in the eye, without hesitation, he replied, “Now, why would I be doing that? We’ve out grown our childhood, haven’t we?”

As we stood there talking, two graying, slightly crooked backed, weathered, shall we say “mature” guys, I couldn’t get his words to leave my mind. We spent a few minutes catching up on the time that had passed since we’d last talked, probably at a rodeo somewhere, years ago. He was on his way to New Mexico to deliver some yearlings he’d been running down here. I was on my way to resume mowing hay on our little ranch south of town. I guess both of us were having the same thoughts.

“Well, evidently he has done OK since I last saw him.” We both had accumulated a little land, a few cow critters and rode through them on a good horse or two. Our visit was brief, we parted with a slight smile on our faces.

It had been good to see an old friend. It seemed to make us both happy to see the other busy and content. It made me feel especially good to see a contemporary whom I had always respected and admired accepting a good life beyond the world of rodeo.

He was right. We had outgrown our childhoods. That was OK. I guess adulthood had snuck up on me. It took an old friend to point it out. While the revelation kind of startled me, I found it rather comforting, too. I wasn’t the only one in the world slowing down to more sedate lifestyle. It was time to act my age and that’s OK. I had a great childhood that lasted over 50 years. If “adulthood” lasts nearly as long, I should make 100 easily!