Master Of The Rodeo

     When my son was about five years old we lived far out in the country. It was one of those places were a southerner might say they had to “pipe in” sunshine!  It wasn't my favorite location as I am a "city girl" (a southern city girl!), but it was just this side of heaven for a pre-schooler.  I remember waking up one morning to find a cow standing next to my car!  Oh my goodness, that was a sight to see for this southern belle!!!  I had never been that close to a cow in my life!  That's a story for another day though.  Anyway, we had acres of land, trees for climbing, woods for exploring, a huge deep ditch to ride a bike in and then there was Boomer.  Boomer was my son's golden lab. I watched the two of them day in and day out perform the strangest ritual.  My little man would hop on Boomer's back and ride him like a horse.  Boomer knew better though and was determined to let Josh know that he was NOT a horse!  Every time Josh would hop up on Boomer’s back, Boomer would walk just enough to tease him, and then would stand up on his hind legs and buck Josh off, throwing him gently to the ground. Boomer thought he was teaching Josh a lesson, but my smart baby boy was teaching him.  He was teaching a dog how to behave like a bucking horse!  Sometimes life is just that way. We hop on ready to go full steam ahead but “life” wants to show us who’s in charge and that it isn’t what we thought it was.  We get thrown to the ground time and time again.  But a determined man or woman will brush themselves off, hop right back on and keep riding!  Especially a southern hand full like myself.  I may struggle sometimes but you'll never see me quit!  Stubbornness is a family trait that I come by honestly.  When you refuse to quit, when you hop back on after being thrown off again and again, before long something changes. Life isn’t controlling you, you are controlling it!  It is doing tricks for you that it doesn’t even realize. So my advice today is this.  If you get thrown to the ground today or tomorrow - next week, month or year, hop back on.  You are master of this rodeo.  Hold on and keep riding!