My 16-year-old son, Val, is a cowboy at heart. He has been around animals on our small farm all his life, and he rides his horse any chance he gets. He can rarely be seen without his dusty, sun-bleached cowboy hat pressed low over his brow. His boots scuff up puffs of dust as he walks across the desert. He is quiet, and he always seemed deep in thought, dreaming his dreams about someday being a rancher. Then, over a year ago, we lucked into a chance meeting with Bill and Linda thru a friend. We talked about Val’s hopes of becoming a rancher and his longing to learn the real life of a rancher -- every aspect of it. Bill and Linda agreed to take him on as a rancher-in-training/ranch hand. What an amazing stroke of luck for my son. He is learning how to handle so many aspects of ranching: horse handling and riding, cattle gathering in the old way of gentle finesse, roping, riding fences and gates, branding cattle and monitoring their health, raising dogie calves, mothering up calves, taking proper care of a fine saddle, maintaining wells and generators and pipes, working hard during the day then gathering with friends for a good dinner and cowboyin’ stories, and so many other amazing things. He is quiet, he doesn’t talk a lot, but when I see him smile his quiet grin at the end of a day on the ranch, I know he is proud of what he is learning, and is very happy. One day, out on Cross 9, we were all working on gathering the cattle to a corral at the well at the back of 9000 wide acres. We had separated into zones, and were working our zones; searching draws, thick stands of Mesquite, corners of washes, heck, any nook or cranny a cow could fit in. After a few hours, only a few cows had been gathered. We met up at the well, and started working on plan B. As we were studying the horizon, we saw a cow come up over a bluff, then another, then a whole long line, marching slowly towards us. At the end of the line, a horse and rider appear, slowly, gently steering the cows towards the well. As soon as I could see the lone rider was Val, I swallowed a lump of pride in my throat. As soon as I could see his face, there it was, that quiet grin. Now, my son is on his way to living his dream. Thank you Bill and Linda. There are no words…
, Benson, Arizona
