Shared Strength

In school, I was a wild free spirited soul that teachers never dream about teaching.  I remember gazing, longingly out the window of our classroom, anxiously waiting for that bell to ring and free me to the fresh air.  For a young boy there was no better place than Penryn,CA, it was wide open, warm and full of possibility.  A long forgotten wagon trail once made its way through our property leaving behind a gentle path and old wagon parts just waiting to be discovered.  My imagination was free to grow as big as the unspoiled territory that awaited me each day.  While many dream of being a real cowboy, I believed that I was one, in fact I still do.  But reality set in every morning and every night when it became time for chores.  Feed the chickens, horses, cow, pigs and water for the goat.  Miss one of these and our freedom was restrained, do the things that needed doing and it was back to gun slinging against my lit...

The wind in my hair with the problems of my world fading in the rear view mirror.  Stepping ever fully on the gas pedal, the freedom of this act was tantalizing.  Perhaps, just maybe, I could keep driving forever, through Canada and up into the north to pet a reindeer and gaze at the desolate tundra.  As Bellingham passed I began to ponder a life as a vagabond, a life free of work and responsibility.  From my scope I deserved it, I was an over worked, ladder climbing, lonely individual who just topped it all off with the recent news of cancer.  But as the miles clicked away a song came on the radio that changed my tune.  A song that I had forgotten about until this morning when Erin was dancing while listening to some retro Salt-N-Pepa.  No, it was not a Salt-N-Pepa song, just put that in to embarrass Erin, it was the next song on her playlist.  It was a Sister Hazel song that reminded me of the song that played on the radio that day titled, ...