#10daysfor10years Day 9 - HANGING UP THE SPURS As Guy Clark sings, I used to be an ex-bull rider August 2010 (about a week before our 6th anniversary), at midnight alone in an ER trauma center in a Wichita hospital I decided I was done riding bulls. Most by now and seen the pics so I wont show those again but what I thought was a few stitches ended up being a broken face and eye socket. I was just getting recovered and back riding from surgery for a broken collar bone that happened in April. Will was born a few weeks after. After a full recovery from the collar bone I was back and was riding pretty good (good for me anyway) and was looking forward to the late summer and fall rodeos. In the ER I had to call Tanya to tell her it was more than a few stitches and told her she was going to have to come pick me up. While I was waiting for her - and Jeana (2 years old) - and Will (4 months old), I was really doing some thinking and praying. I thought of my injury that April as a sign to slow down and be a little closer to the family. Now for another major injury several months later? What did that mean? I remember praying that night waiting on results of the x-ray. I prayed that if it was something real serious I was going to hang it up and dont look back. 1:00 in the morning, face swollen holding Jeana and looking at Tanya holding Will the doctor can back and said there are several breaks in the cheek and around the eye socket and he was going to refer me to an Oral Surgeon for evaluation and to set up the surgery. That was it. Tanya and the kids were far more important to me than any rodeo or bull riding. Now all in all the injury wasnt THAT bad and I could have got healed up, got a helmet and went right back at it. Ive had many rodeo friends suffer FAR worse injuries and come back. But for me, it was time to put my family first. After we were married we moved to town and couldnt keep horses around. I always felt a bit selfish that I could still chase my dream and her roping and goat tying days were done after college. She just joined in on my rodeo dreams and was always right there with me supporting me. Sharing the experience right there by my side.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 22:05:35 +0000