Mom and Dad said, “Go out and experience something new”.
So I left home, got my college degree,
Spent all that time away, in between seeing the world and
Wishing to go back,
To the way things used to be.
But then I went back home, and nothing was the same;
My eyes had been opened to a whole new world.
Trying to teach mom and dad something new is harder than I thought,
I was stuck between wondering if I made the right choice
And running out and never coming back
And wishing life wasn’t such a skating rink
Then I got married, and my husband agreed
That helping out at home, wouldn’t be so bad.
So we moved home for good, but we still had to work
In town to make ends meet; caught between 40 hours there
And another 40 with dad.
Then the kids came along, and now I am a momma
I relate better to the cows and the horses at home
Than to most of the women at work;
But here I am, in between being a mother and a wife,
Wanting to help out home, and the one stuck in town,
and I begin to wonder how I
am going to survive being all these people all of the time.
It is hard to fit in at work, and even harder at home,
Having babies takes me away from what I really want to do
Those horses that used to be my world
Have taken the back seat; riding all day hurts worse than it used to
I forget how to run a gate, and lose my sense of direction,
pulling the horse trailer has become a test
I wonder if I have lost my mind, is this really best?
The people at work, can’t understand
Why I would give up your good- paying job, heat, and a/c
To work with my parents and livestock for pennies
“Girl, you must be crazy!”
But they will never know, the smell of freshly cut hay
Or see a baby calf stand and suckle
They won’t appreciate the manure, the dirt, and the days
spent branding, riding, shipping, and fencing
They can’t feel the pride I take, in riding behind the herd,
And the life we are giving our kids
Ranch life is hard, there’s no place for wanting fortune or fame,
No glory, just good times and bad,
Up early to work late, in the heat and the cold,
The thunder, hail, snow, and rain.
They won’t feel the pain, when I lose that new calf
Or cry the tears I cry
They can’t understand how we keep going in the face
Of drought, fire, wind, ice, small paychecks and bad times
But mostly, it frustrates me that I can’t explain just how much
I love it, and why.
It is hard being caught in between wishing to ranch full time
And being told to wait;
It is hard to be stuck at work when I could be riding a new colt
On a fresh spring day;
To take the kids to daycare when they could be home
With us, learning about the animals and the land,
If wishes were ponies, I would have quite a herd
Things sure haven’t turned out quite the way I planned!
But it isn’t all bad; I am learning how strong I am
How much I can bend, how responsible I can be
Making new friends, relationships, and taking on duties
It is hard to be all these people when I only want to be one
But I know, at the end of the day,
I have the best life, a husband that loves me,
beautiful children that light my way
Parents that are proud, the respect and admiration of others who see
me between ranch wife and city folk, momma and cowgirl
In between leather and horse hair and dresses and pearls
I know that being a rancher is more than a title, more than a job;
It is a destiny, a calling, a gift from above in all of its forms
And the good lord has chosen us, with all our passion and smarts
To be a caretaker of his children, his livestock, his land
And that is something not everyone can do, not everyone gets the chance
I may be in between the rain and the rainbow
The clouds and the shine; the start and end of the dance
But the storms of life always pass and leave a new ray of light and hope for tomorrow.