Each month, I ponder what to write, wanting my words to be interesting and relatable. However, I also consider the time of the you, the reader.
You’re busy. Everyone is busy these days, but I know ranch life is a different kind of busy. You never leave work at work because you live where you work. Plus, busyness depends on the weather, time of the year – like calving season! – and family factors. I’m right there with you.
I’m realizing that I make the most time for things that will impact me in my business, relationships, faith and health. There are a lot of things that vie for our time, and I don’t want to waste yours by writing something frivolous. Sometimes I shoot for a hearty laugh; sometimes I aim to share life because we are all in the trenches – err, fields – together.
What I think most befitting here is community.
Hopefully we all have a community where we live. Interacting with real people is obviously necessary. However, knowing there are all sorts of folks like us across our nation brings an added level of comfort and support. We “know” each other, but hearing stories that make us say, “Oh wow! That happened to me, too!” or, “I know how that feels!” makes us feel seen and heard. That is the power of story.
Before there was the internet, and even continuing today, we had storytellers. We have cowboy poetry and art. Charlie Russell has been gone a long time, but people can look at one of his paintings and know what was happening. His art told, and continues to tell, a story. Yet, what sticks out to one person might differ from you. Just like the memories of siblings who were in the same situation at the same time but carry different memories or feelings.
Ranching is like that. It’s a universal theme among us, but our experience, thoughts and feelings may vary. After all, we live in different climates, raise different breeds and grow different hay crops – making our individual experiences unique.
Since the parameter of our gathering together happens in print or online, I’ve decided to write you a letter. As always, you’re welcome to hop online and comment, but otherwise, let’s have a hot drink and share life.
Dear Reader,
Thank you. Thank you for showing up month after month and engaging with others in our community. Your time and attention is valuable.
Even more important, thank you for showing up day after day to complete your routine in ranching. Your efforts make a difference in our agricultural world. When it’s 2 a.m. and you’ve just checked a calving heifer, or it’s pouring rain and you made it back to the house – after getting stuck a few times – your energy is needed.
When you’ve finally planned a date night with your spouse and you put on boots not covered in mud and manure, enjoy it. Much of our lives are spent either thinking about the ranch or working on the ranch, so moments without the ranch are necessary.
Remember when calf prices were so high, and then all of a sudden they weren’t? This is how my heart often feels. There are many ups and downs in all walks of life, but I feel them deeply on the ranch. We live here, don’t we? We look out the window and our jobs are our lives and our lives are our jobs. Yet, that isn’t all of who we are.
Our different hats come out a lot in our marriages. We are hardest on the people we feel the safest with. Right now, for us, we are still getting used to having more than just us on the ranch. Now, it is good to have others; they are wonderful. There is a difference, though, when it goes from the two of us to more of us. I feel that, and maybe you do too, Reader.
It’s going to be OK. More than OK. We’ve never lived the day we are living today, but we can draw on yesterday’s experiences and tomorrow’s hopes to make the best choices possible.
Mistakes are inevitable. One of us will forget to latch a gate or will let a calf get by when we should’ve trapped them in the pen. And I’m sure we can all attest that we will yell and get yelled at, but restitution comes after. (But let me just say, “I swear that gate was latched shut!”)
Reader, it is a great privilege to have you as a friend. Thank you for not judging me or others but working toward the benefit of healthy communities and families. I’m glad we’re in this together.
Yours truly,
Marci
