| was a little kid, I wanted to be a cowboy more | | | | a cowboy and come to school without being |
| than anything else in the whole wide world. That | | | | made to go back in and change. |
| seemed like the absolute ultimate in things you | | | | Of course, the reality of actually being a cowboy |
| could grow up to become. This theory was | | | | is something very different. I spent a summer |
| proven to me time and time again when I would | | | | out west on a ranch when I was sixteen, and |
| watch westerns on TVs. There were good guys | | | | boy did my bubble burst. Cowboying was hard |
| and bad guys, and the good guys almost always | | | | work, and I wasn't even getting to do anything |
| won. The men were manly and strong, and the | | | | cool. Sure, I could watch the guys breaking in |
| women were pretty and well worth saving (from | | | | horses or herding cattle, but I sure wasn't allowed |
| the bad guys who captured them, obviously). | | | | to do any of that myself. Instead, I spent most |
| They too seemed to be able to handle more, do | | | | of my time mucking out stalls, carrying heavy |
| more, than anything that we were asked to do in | | | | things (buckets of water, bales of hay) from one |
| suburbia. | | | | place to another and other chores of drudgery. It |
| Of course, the fact that this lifestyle came | | | | seemed that the things I thought were cool were |
| complete with western wear and cowboy boots | | | | actually too dangerous for me, and I didn't have |
| was a big draw as well. I had been a cowboy for | | | | the requisite skill set anyway. I tried to apply |
| every single Halloween event I had ever been to, | | | | myself, thinking it would get better, but even |
| and liked to adopt as much western apparel as I | | | | getting up every day and putting on western |
| could into my daily life as well. I convinced my | | | | wear wasn't enough for me anymore. |
| parents to buy me a pair of cowboy boots every | | | | After that, I decided that being an urban cowboy |
| time I grew out of my old ones, and always tried | | | | would be much better. I'd had the ranch |
| to buy the most western-looking shirts I could | | | | experience, so I wasn't losing face with any of |
| find. When my mom was out of town and it was | | | | my friends, and I could keep on dressing in the |
| my dad taking us to school, I would even mix and | | | | one style that always made me happy. In the |
| match from some of my cowboy costumes. He | | | | end, I'm really glad that western apparel- cowboy |
| never really gave it much thought, but all the kids | | | | boots especially- have become a style that |
| at school always knew right away that I was | | | | anybody can wear, any time, anywhere. |
| really something different- being able to dress like | | | | |