By Shannon Williams
If it seems that I have been doing lots of fun things in the past several months, well I have had some fun… you see I took a leave from work, trying to plan what I wanted to do next, and when I returned, I went to a new job in a new department. This all took place in October and the new job does not require the travel as the old one did. I am also not on call or anyone’s boss! This has decreased my stress level a great deal and increased my energy and time for fun!! When you travel for work, you are just always behind and tired, your normal work still goes on and each trip you add more to your list of things that you need to do. You spend your weekends trying to get rest and get caught up on your work and the last thing you want to do is get dressed and go somewhere. But those days are gone, along with all of the good travel perks that came with it, but the tradeoff was fine for me!

I have been trying to do things in the local area that I had just not done since I moved here 10 years ago. So, last Wednesday, my Cajun hubby put on his cowboy hat, jeans and his boots and off we went to the Houston Rodeo! I decided to put comfort before style and worn my tennis shoes for easy walking and my yoga pants for all the good eating!!! I have not worn boots very much in the past 20 years, and knew I was not going to be able to be comfortable in them, and it was also a warm day and boots are hot! Paul had not been to a big rodeo ever and had only been to small local ones as a child, me on the other hand, has been to many for a very long time!

In high school, I was part of the Rodeo band. I did not play an instrument, but was the band librarian who would keep track of all the sheet music, but during the rodeo, I was on the big bass drum. Each time the bucking horse or bull would buck, I would hit that big drum. It was too much fun and after four years, I was pretty good at it LOL!

I was not sure how it was going to all work out, with the crowds and parking and all of that. I had gotten us a hotel room about a mile or two from NRG and was thrilled when we checked in and found out they had a shuttle to take us there and pick us up, nothing could have been easier, no driving, no parking! We spent some time looking at the food and deciding on what we wanted to eat; we stayed away from the carnival food where they will fry anything – been there and done that at the state fair. We each found something good to eat, even warm cookies to snack on! We spent a little time in the shopping area and enjoyed looking at all the goods; they even had a quilt show! We saw long lines of people going into the arena, but we went around to the entrance close to our tickets and there was not a line and we were in our seats in no time.

The grand entry was just wonderful and so patriotic, the prayer was just moving and we were off and running. It brought back such memories of being with my father, not that he was a cowboy or even owned a cowboy hat, but we went to the rodeo every chance we got. One of our favorites was Quail Dobbs, the rodeo clown. He had a great act with an exploding car. He always had other clowns with him as part of the act. When Leon Coffee jumped inside his barrel, I thought I knew him. I did a quick google search and found out that he had brought the old exploding car and Quail was a mentor to him. While he did not have the car with him, it was a connection to home and my father. Towards the end of the rodeo part, they let a mom and her colt run loose in the arena, then they brought out the third generation of horse, it was so moving. They finally just let a bunch of horses run wild in the arena and it was breath taking.

We had gone to see Brooks and Dunn perform, but the rodeo turned out to be both of our favorite part. Brooks and Dunn were not bad, but they had lots of lights and fireworks and loud sounds and it was a little  overwhelming. Their music did not need all of the extra, but I guess people want a show these days. We got out of the arena in record time and got our shuttle and were snug in our hotel bed in no time. It was a great adventure and we are ready for many more. Don’t let life pass you by, get out and take part. Oh by the way, hubby’s feet hurt really bad, his hat was too tight and he was not real happy on the way home, but me and my tennis shoes and yoga pants were very comfortable LOL

[SW: Mar-7-2023]