Back in the Day

I so wish that we would have had phones that take good photos when my boys were young. I’ve been searching through pictures looking for some to add to my posts and realize that most of what I have were taken by rodeo photographers or school pictures. I remember a few moms who carried a camera with them but honestly I had 2 boys (ususlly fighting), 5 horses, saddles, bridles, ropes, etc. to get to the rodeos. I did good to get there with my video camera and some semblance of sanity. 1 of the last video cameras that I had took still pictures also and I have a few that I took but they really weren’t very good quality.

We did have cell phones “back in the day” and I’m really thankful for them. Thank goodness Jake had 1 for a not so proud mom moment. We had been to a rodeo and stopped at a convenience store on the way out of town for gas and snacks. Jake wanted to sleep in the trailer and I didn’t know he got out at the store. I had Clay and his roping partner loaded up in front and we took off. A couple of miles down the road I got a call from Jake. “Mom, I know I didn’t rope very well tonight but are you really going to leave me here?” You know it’s kind of hard to find a place to turn around a pickup and 4 horse living quarters in the middle of the country. The funny part of this though was that Clay’s partner, Casey, knew Jake was in the store and didn’t say anything! He was probably tired of listening to them argue. Needless to say, no more riding in the trailer.

I’m glad we had living quarters trailers. My best memories are of spending time in it. Now, I won’t go to ropings with Jacky unless he takes it. I figured up how many nights we stayed in it 1 summer and it equaled 6 weeks! I’m not really a very organized person but when you are staying in a trailer with teenagers you all have to learn where everything belongs. Someone needs to invent a mini “roomba” to put in them. I hate walking on dirty floors and I would sweep before I went to bed so that when I got up I wouldn’t have to walk on yucky floors! Yes, my whole family thinks I’m weird.

I found the picture below when going through some of the photos I gathered up from my parents’ house after they passed away. We had this homemade open top trailer that we used. This horse was named “Sugar”. My brother learned to rope on him. I was really young but I can remember loading him up in that trailer to go rope and he would rear up and ride with his front hooves on top of the trailer. I wish we had a picture of that! I also remember my grandfather loading up a horse in the back of his pickup. You know, times were way different and we didn’t have the greatest rigs but we sure had fun and I have great memories of my childhood rodeoing. I hope my boys’ memories are just as good.

Thanks for indulging me in this trip down memory lane. I hope it conjures up some of your own sweet memories from childhood, no matter what your family did for “fun”.

A joyful heart is good medicine but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22