An Old Bull Ridden By Cancer

This morning, bending over a bucket, desperately trying to keep my oat meal where it belongs the Effing Evil Empire was doing it's best to win.  Truth be told puking isn't the issue, it's the prelude up to it [sorry] ask any woman who has had morning sickness.

None the less, this morning I managed to fight my oat meal back down.  I had help this time though.  I now have a mantra.  You old fogies as old as I am just relax, a mantra isn't some Eastern hugaboo boogley.  A Mantra is something you say to yourself to remind you how strong you actually are.

Recently I was given a gift.  Turned out to be a huge gift for me.  A gift from a co-worker whom easily  has become my friend.  A wise friend.  Here's why.

Decades ago, I decided that the best profession for me was to become a Bull Rider in the Rodeo.  Well duh, joining the rodeo for me was the same as running away with the circus.  But none the less I became a Bull Rider. 

The rules then; long sleeve shirt, chaps and a hat.  Don't look at the PBR guys in this day and age with disdain, wearing their flack jackets, helmets and mouth pieces.  Bulls today are twenty million bazillion times larger than the bulls I would find myself on back in the day. Frankly, today's bulls,  they can murder you in a blink.  Not an exaggeration.

I could be called stupid for even attempting such a thing as riding.  Stupid or not, I would climb into the chute, sit down on a ton or so of "I will kill you" and nod my head with massive trepidation.  I was always scared to no shit.  

Alas, I also have to add there is no drug, no event in life, that remotely compares to the rush the millisecond before you nod your head to the chute boss and that gate opens. You forget all of your past and future at that point.  For me that was the point.

The point?  The point now is a gift I received recently.  As stupid as riding a bull may sound it did take a certain amount of insanity and, well, for me guts.  Though I was riding for the wrong reasons I still remember the guts it took.

So for you all that are fighting the Effing Evil Empire find a rallying cry or listen for someone to deliver the gift of a rallying cry so you have a shield against the Effing Evil Empire.

My gift, my rallying cry that now hangs in my office so I can see it constantly.  My rallying cry when I'm fighting the Effing Evil Empire....is;

Perfectly framed and matted...the simple words "I once was a bull rider."  That's all.  A reminder of how strong I was and how strong I can be.

Seriously, find your Mantra.  Hell find a pebble on the street if that works for you.  There is a terribly awesome power in anything that reminds you how strong you are while you hover over a puke bucket, lay in radiation, chemo or...

Ride cowboys ride.

Thanks Katrina.

Talk to you later.