The past two weekends have been full of adventures. I've noticed a theme of the decisions I make every time I decide to go somewhere new. It's always spontaneous. If I make plans in advance to go somewhere I think about it too much and typically decide to back out. Which annoys myself as much as it annoys my friends, I'm sure. While someone could probably analyze me and think there's something wrong with me, I've grown to like the impulsive side.
One of my best friends is from Nevada and her family lives on a ranch. I had gone to visit them once before and was excited to go back two weeks ago. Before going I dreaded the long drive and having a lot of homework to do over the long weekend and didn't want to go. But I decided to anyways. What else was I going to do? Once we got there, I was so happy to be there. New experiences awaited.
While I was there we gardened, something my own parents couldn't have paid me to do. We rode horses, a desire I get literally once a year. And we branded cows. People always assume that being from Texas means I'm some kind of rodeo pro, but it's quite the opposite. I grew up on a farm for part of my life, but never a ranch. We had cows but they never needed to be branded. So being in a pen with five other people and eleven calves running around, was quite an experience.
At one point a milk cow, Rosie, made her way out of her gated-in area and tried to charge at us for being with the babies. I was just the vaccine girl, holding all the tools and medicines to vaccinate the calves. So when this happened, I was the only one not holding the calf in place so it was up to me to get Rosie out of the way and back into her pen. I ran after her and got her away; it was terrifying. But we got the job done and at the end of the day I was forced to eat 'Rocky Mountain Oysters', but I'll leave that for another article.
Yesterday I was sitting at home watching Hulu and called my friend who had gone back home, about three hours away, for her birthday. It was Midnight and the conversation went:
Me: Hey, what're you doing?
Her: Sitting outside drinking a beer. You?
Me: Nothing, I'm bored.
Her: Come over here.
Me: Okay.
And I packed a quick bag, filled up on gas, and hit the road. I would be lying if I said I didn't consider turning around about 12 times through the drive, but when I finally arrived I was so glad I came. I got into town as the sun came up. We went and grabbed breakfast, then took a nap.
So now here I am, sitting in a town three hours away from where I should be because I decided to up and leave for the night. So many things could be affected by these kinds of decisions, but they weren't. I'm so glad to be at a place in my life where I am getting things done, graduating in the spring, and be thrown into the real world, but I can still have the little piece of freedom where I can do whatever I want. Sometimes the best things come from implusive, possibly irresponsible, decisions.
