I originally published this post on December 28, 2013. While I had this conversation with one of my first cousins in Texas after Christmas six years ago, I found his words strangely spoke to me today as a spike in South Carolina coronavirus cases brought the pandemic closer and closer to Pretty and me.
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A year can fly past in a hurry and yet the passage of time, regardless of our perception of its speed, never leaves us unchanged. I was talking to a cousin who called me on Christmas Day to wish me a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I appreciated the call and the visit we had. The thousand miles that separated us couldn’t break the ties that bind us through our DNA.
We were talking about the vicissitudes of life, as my daddy used to call them, and Gaylen who has spent over forty years hanging out with cowboys at rodeos in and around the Houston area told me one of their favorite quotes: “The horse you draw is the one you’ll ride.”
I like it. No apologies. No excuses. No whining about why did I get this horse. No wondering about whether this rodeo was one I should’ve signed up for. No mulling over how I ever got to be a cowboy in the first place. It’s now or it’s never – so you ride.
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Stay safe, stay sane and please stay tuned.
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About Sheila Morris
Sheila Morris is a personal historian, essayist with humorist tendencies, lesbian activist, truth seeker and speaker in the tradition of other female Texas storytellers including her paternal grandmother.
In December, 2017, the University of South Carolina Press published her collection of first-person accounts of a few of the people primarily responsible for the development of LGBTQ organizations in South Carolina. Southern Perspectives on the Queer Movement: Committed to Home will resonate with everyone interested in LGBTQ history in the South during the tumultuous times from the AIDS pandemic to marriage equality.
She has published five nonfiction books including two memoirs, an essay compilation and two collections of her favorite blogs from I'll Call It Like I See It. Her first book, Deep in the Heart: A Memoir of Love and Longing received a Golden Crown Literary Society Award in 2008. Her writings have been included in various anthologies - most recently the 2017 Saints and Sinners Literary Magazine. Her latest book, Four Ticket Ride, was released in January, 2019.
She is a displaced Texan living in South Carolina with her wife Teresa Williams and their dogs Spike, Charly and Carl. She is also Naynay to her two granddaughters Ella and Molly James who light up her life for real. Born in rural Grimes County, Texas in 1946 her Texas roots still run wide and deep.
I'll Call It Like I See It 
You hear that nugget of wisdom a lot in the horse world. You ride the horse you’ve got. It’s a helluva scenario if that horse is crazy-assed!!
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Ain’t that the truth, Sister?? One helluva scenario!!
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There’s a gentle Pinto to the north hitched and waiting for you and Pretty.
Thinking daily of my many friends and family to the south and praying for wisdom, sense, science and good health to prevail.
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Very appropriate prayers, Susanne. We apparently have a problem with good sense down here to the south of you. Thank you for remembering us – we appreciate mucho.
I’ve always loved a Pinto.
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And so we hang on as hard as we can even if he’s too spirited!
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Absolutely, Luanne.
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I think that’s a wonderful saying, Sheila😸Pawkisses for a wonderful day🐾😽💞
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Thanks so much, Granny!
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Great post! 🌸
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Thank you so very much! I try.
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Well….that’s a damn awesome saying.
Sending you the best from Toronto…
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Thanks so very much – back at ya from South Carolina!
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