The Lyrics of Longing

He's right, you know.  Eric said it happens every year.  KLOVE is traded for KSSN, Christian lyrics for those of trucks, rivers, and young love.  It's the time of year.  A country girl just can't help herself when Fair Season rolls around.

I so want to don my Wranglers and Ropers, but they were swapped out for Skinny Jeans and Ballet Flats a long time ago.  There are no longer any cattle in my barn, or a barn for that matter.  There is absolutely no reason at all for me to hop in my minivan and stroll through the cattle barns at the State Fair.  But, what I would give for that smell of clean heifers and hay just about now.

I was Cade's age when I started showing, not even knowing the difference between a heifer and a Hereford.  I was green and naive and young and innocent and had no idea how this one simple word, cow, would knit me together with my Dad.  It's in my blood now.  There seems to be no escaping it.

Something about this time of year brings hope.  Fall just seems to dip into the jar of all things happy and bring forth an extra measure.  The sunlight falls on the trees in less harsh ways.  The days end cooler and quicker.  The crisp mornings beg you to take some coffee outside and relish in both the coffee and the morning.  The happy country lyrics speak of dreams fulfilled and good times with friends. 

October was always the culmination of everything I had worked for when I was younger and entering the sawdust ring, heifer, steer, or bull by my side, wondering if the judge had the sense to know if my animal was as perfect as I knew it to be.  That moment of stepping into the ring at the State Fair, laying your heart on the line and wondering if your hard work was going to pay off was always the pinnacle of the year.

I know now it always paid off.  No matter what color ribbon I brought home.

Teaching me how to work hard...how to work towards a goal...how to put oneself under the authority of what the Judge said...how to walk out of the ring with your head held high when you didn't agree with the Authority...I now know the work of those childhood days paid off.

Here are my thoughts on this topic when I visited it last year.

And the lyrics of longing always running through my head...
strawberry wine, 17...
I run to you...
check yes or no...
dust on the bottle...
go rest high on that mountain...
stuck like glue...
if I die young...