Childhood

The Soul of a Horse taken by Peter Thomann

Gah, this hits me right in the emotions. I remember riding horses as a child on my parent's ranch. Fun times, those were. Unfortunately, ranch was sold and the horses too. I miss those days. There's nothing more free than the open country. Very peaceful and quiet too, when the wind isn't blowing. All part of living in Texas. I remember I used to think when I was older I would take over the ranch to keep it alive and in the family, but that obviously didn't happen. Now I'm living in the city and have no idea what goes on over there. 

When it would snow, we would go out and find a hill and sled all afternoon. Once I ran into my sister while she was standing at the base. I bet she remembers. Once we tried snowboarding, but it didn't work out so well. The hills weren't steep enough and the snow wasn't thick enough to protect us from the huge rocks underneath. I had a bruise the size of a softball on my thigh for the next few days. One of the last times it snowed before we moved, we took the top off a water tank (they kind of look like this) and tied it to a four wheeler. Needless to say, sharp turns and deep ditches make it hard to hold on.

Summers kind of sucked due to the heat, but the nights were wonderful and stargazing was magnificent. There, Orion became my favorite constellation and swimming became my favorite pastime. I'm pretty sure I have cancer from spending so much time outside. Hide and seek was amazing and the cats were constantly multiplying. There were Indian bones in the creek beds and snapping turtles in the ponds. There were wild berry bushes and yucca plants that would randomly catch on fire (I've never figured that one out). There were cattle brandings in the spring and harvesting in the fall. We had our own tiny landfill, and I'm pretty sure there was also a ghost in the attic, but no one ever said anything about it. 

I really, really fucking miss those days. 

Yep. Right in the emotions. 

On a side note, my reading list just grew by five books.