What Surrounds Us

I crossed states the other night (OK, and KS) that most people would call wastelands. To the casual observer there isn't much there, the scenery is as unique as the people that inhabit the land and call it home. Being the product of a farm boy, cowboy, and a professor has given me this perspective on life that most ignore, or neglect to see. There is beauty in every state...in every area of our country, in every experience,...and in life you just have to take time to find it.

I have sat in the finest restaraunts in the world, and some of the greasiest spoon cafes you could find... sat in the swank booths of the W's of the world...and the sawdust covered floors of a honky tonk...the Crown tastes the same...and I like and appreciate both equally...I have seen the Alps of Europe...and the wheat fields dance in the wind of my North Dakota home...and see Gods hand moving across both...I have conducted meetings in sky scrapers with mahogany conference tables and designer chairs...and conducted meetings in machine shops on a metal table fashioned for bending steel into form...I have sipped coffee in a Times Square coffee house...and got my own styrofoam cup and sat with my late Grandfather talking to the farmers at the elevator about their crops...and I cherish both...but the latter more. Sitting on the shores of Pang Kor in Malaysia...and ass in the sand of area lakes...has a the same yet different flavor. I have sang on the stages of Nashville...and in a bar where I was one of three in the room...but I sang anyways...I have ridden in the finest cars...and I have driven one I had to push down a hill to jump start. Sitting in custom made designer deck chairs...is the same to me as sitting in a deer stand on two by fours nailed to a tree for a temporary but meaningful time of solitude in the woods...I have fished with a stick and twine courtesy of a dead branch and whatever was available for anything in the water...and I have crossed the Ketchikan Bay of Alaska in a half a million dollar boat and caught Halibut as big as most people... I have trampled across corn fields, sloughs, and sunflower fields in search of game on the farmlands of home...and the Alaskan tundra holds my footprint as well as I stalked caribou and moose on a guided hunt most would call the hunt of a lifetime. I have rolled across the country coast to coast on my Harley Davidson...and covered that same spance of land from 50,000 feet.

I share all of that and there is much more...to say this...everything...every place...every time...and most people you come across hold meaning. None is better or worse than the other, all are unique in experience and form. Perspective grants one this look...as does a curiosity to learn and live life out loud and with purpose.

The fly over state of Kansas looks like a checkerboard of Josephs coat of many colors, from the air. This state also produces annually the most wheat in nation, and is where the Upper class...and those that would be called the lower, even homeless...get their bread. Oklahoma is a topographical conundrum of brush praire...and rolling hills...it is also where the suits of wall street are fortunate enough get the finest beef flown into the Sparks, and Brooklyns Peter Lueggers to eat ( both of which I have sat and partaken of their bill of fair), and in some of their minds change the world with their intellecual thoughts over a meal, and a glass of merlot.

Each needs the other...its up to all to understand this.

To be continued...

Your Cowboy...YOUR Biggest Fan

When you grow up in a family like I did you look towards the future. It looks and sounds amazing in the minds eye, the view through that lense is clear unobstructed and void of any clutter or obstacle. In that view you see a family of your own, kids, horses, dogs, family friends, vacations, a home church, and someone standing beside you wandering your life and following your interests and your passions as you do the same for theirs. People say you marry your "best friend" and that may be true. I say we are all looking for our "Biggest fan."

My father is a simple, brilliant, strong, accomplished man. He is also a cowboy, honest, hard working, crack shot, build it yourself, help the neighbor bring the crop in, ass in the saddle, hand on the horn, cowboy. As I wander through life people often comment on my talents in every area of my life. They come from this man and my mother, but he taught me what a real man looks like, acts like, and lives like.

One of the greatest things my father taught me was how to treat a woman, your woman. This never took place in a conversation, there wasnt a water shed moment in time we spoke in detail about this subject. He just lived it and let me watch. I was the fortunate onlooker to a mans life who showed up, who gets it, who does it right.

In my fathers home office there was a plaque that hung. This plaque was of no grand flair, the horse in the drawing was not C.W. Russelesque, but the message branded my soul....and still speaks to my heart, as I look for her:

" If a man has enough horse sense to treat his wife like a thoroughbred...she will never grow into and old nag."

Simple enough...odd...quirky some might say, but after witnessing 40 years of my parents marriage, I know it to be true. I have seen it acted out in front of me my entire life by this man. I read a lot and I love quotes, I love independent thoughts, I love to learn. For all that I have read, this simple, odd, quirky, quote is like poets words are to some. To me it says more than what is written, between the lines, over the lines, and under the lines it says this, ... " Honey, I am your biggest fan, I will be in the first row cheering for your life."

It says that you will be taken care of, I will be the gaurdian of your heart. I will embrace you and your interests and your passions will be my passions, your life will be my life, and your existence will make mine worth all the more. I will be a front row witness to your wonderful life, and you to mine. Wherever you desire to go in life, experience in life, choose to pursue, count me in. We will navigate the waters of life together, and you will always be safe, through storms, in me you will always find safe harbor and the lighthouse will be my heart. I will show up, and there will never be a time for me to worry about your cause I know that I will always be there, and should circumstance or chance make that difficult...time will be all that seperates how soon I come to you in your time of need. I will love you and hug you with open arms, to allow you the freedom to be who God designed you to be, but in those open arms, you will never fall. I will cast away fear, and eliminate doubt, I will keep the wolves of life a safe distance from the fire of our camp.

I... will be your Cowboy.

Although tomorrow is never assured, and the future we look towards together is a clouded mystery waiting to be rode through. I will ride confidently anyway, I will clear the trail, I will assure safe passage, and I will bring you through whatever it is that we encounter. I will ride into fear and the unseen confidently, so you can find comfort. Yes...I will be your cowboy...YOUR biggest fan.

Why I Ride.

I ride a Harley Davidson, have since I was 24 years old. The question often comes up " Why do you ride?" Here is the answer I have come up with in the wind, crossing states, lakes, running over bridges to the ocean, rolling over the snow capped Rocky Mountains, passing hay bale covered fields of home, and wandering through the lands of North Dakota, that the Indians called bad.

I ride to remember...I ride to forget. I ride to give forgivess...and I ride to ask for the same. I ride to find peace...as I ride through a loud life. I ride to listen to the wind...and I ride to deafen the world. I ride to destinations...and I ride to get lost. I ride to think about mistakes...and I ride knowing life is about choice. I ride to talk to God...and I ride to quiet the god of this world. I ride to cry...and I ride to smile. I ride to think...and I ride to numb thoughts. I ride to break down truths...and I ride to just accept them. I ride to ask questions...and I ride looking for no answers. I ride to experience life...and I ride to just experience the subtle smells and different temperatures in a valley. I ride to be seen...and I ride to hide. I ride to forget about life...and I ride to remember how blessed I truly am in this life. I ride and I think about making a difference...and I ride and think about the status quo. I ride to question those who I have called friend...and I ride to gain perspective on what that term truly means, and who truly are. I ride knowing not many would be qualified to converse or debate...and I ride not caring either way. I ride thinking about those who would call it a "competition" for the competitive, and tell her the same...and I ride believing love is no game, never was to me nor ever will be. I ride always thinking about a boy...and I ride knowing he will make a difference as a man. I ride to get to family...and I ride alone to get to know one. I ride to places I have been with another...and I ride to learn it is not the same when arriving. I ride to fight those who rise up against me...and I ride to pray for the same. I ride knowing that life is short...and I ride believing it will never end. I ride to get away from those who have hurt me...and I ride to run to those who have as well. I ride knowing the power of the wind...and I ride to challenge it, knowing it is strong. I ride because few ever live...and I ride feeling sometimes like I have died inside. I ride to challenge the miles...and I ride to concede the competition. I ride to think about love...and I ride knowing she is a cruel mirage of a mistress. I ride wishing I didnt know now, what I didnt know then...and I ride knowing I knew all along. I ride to embrace this life...and I ride to let it go. I ride to hear the sound of the motor...and I ride to just hear the sound of silent thought. I ride because one of the greatest men I ever knew rode with me one day...and I ride with him still even as he has passed. I ride to think about the city...and I ride missing the country. I ride to thinking about emotional, real lost investments...and I ride just considering it a sunk cost. I ride wondering why not me...and I ride knowing I am hard to find, and she feels that too. I ride having documented facts...and I ride knowing that doesnt change anything in a heart. I ride to get away...and I ride to stay. I ride to run...and I ride to sit and wait. I ride to listen to that still small voice...and I ride to yell at that the top of my lungs. I ride because I am not paying a psychologist...and I ride knowing I have paid already. I ride to recite scripture...and I ride to curse true faith and time. I ride to see God...and I ride not looking to be seen at all. I ride knowing that this life is a canvas on which to paint with experiences and memories...and I ride knowing I hold the brush.

The main thing is...I ride ...when few in life ever saddle up.