Impossibly, irrevocably, unquestionably...Addicted

Thanks a lot Steph for introducing me to The Pioneer Woman. I seriously can't stop reading.

This woman is living my childhood dream. And it's not even fair, since it obviously wasn't her childhood dream.

Wow. Bitter much?

I'm sure many of you remember all of the career choices children used to wish for. My brothers wanted to be anything from Firemen, Professional Football Players, Astronauts, Archaeologists, and Loggers (remember, I grew up in Oregon).

I know that my parents wanted me to go into some sort of medical field. And I know that most little girls wanted to be things like nurses, teachers, doctors, or even lawyers. But as far as I can remember, there was only one option for me.

I wanted to be a Cowgirl. Seriously. I wanted to live and work on a ranch. Working cattle and riding the fences. I would even get out on my horse and imagine that I lived on a large ranch and had really important jobs to do. The dogs may have gotten tired of being herded and there was really only so much fence to ride and "check", but I kid you not, this continued into high school.

Stop laughing. I mean it. Don't make me hit you.

I really had no perspective on what an actual ranch hand's life was like. Just from what I would read in books. It was all so glamorous to me then. All horses and sunsets and hearty meals at the end of the day. The books don't cover the sweat, aching muscles, manure, and hard work. I mean, I had spent plenty of time around cattle to know that they were dirty, smelly beasts and that it would of course be work and not just a pleasure ride every day. But at that time, it was all a romantic idea.

So, you would think that now that I'm older, I would have abandoned this idea as a childish dream. I would know that my body probably couldn't handle it (at least at first), that it would be dirty and nasty and gross, and that it wouldn't be even close to that romantic idealized image from my childhood.

Guess what. I would still love to do it. If someone asked me what my dream life/house was, the first thing that comes to mind is a big ranch house situated in the middle of nowhere with an actual working ranch of some sort. Lots and lots of land. Without a neighbor in site.

Would I go crazy? Probably. Course...that's assuming I'm not already there...