Another year with my cowboy!

Well, I celebrated another year with my cowboy! Mark and I were married 11 years ago on December 12, 1998.

There's a famous line in that old Willie & Waylon song that says "cowboys ain't easy to love and they're harder to hold." I can say that this verse is mostly true, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

For those of you who don't know our story... Mark and I met in the 9th grade of high school and by the 10th grade we were dating. We were the typical "highschool sweethearts" around our little town!
When we got married we were young. Looking back I can think of three things that made being married to a cowboy so tough ~~~ 1.) Moving 2.) Money and finally 3.) All the late nights of hanging with the other cowboys. Looking back on it all, two of those things make me appreciate our life together now. As for #3, I do admit I was hard on him!

The moving was always an adventure, but I hated the packing and unpacking our "home" as we moved from ranch to ranch. We have moved more times than I can keep up with, but each move brought new adventures & memories to our lives. I always knew we'd be okay, cause Mark is a good provider and we had each other. Mark would work day & night if that was what it took to make sure I had all the things I needed. I may not have had nice gifts, new vehicles and beautiful homes, but he made sure I had all the neccessities. Cowboys are drifters... always looking for greener pastures and bigger remudas. So, if the day ever comes that I hear the words, "pack your bags", I'll be ready to load the trailer and set off for the next adventure on the horizion. But for now, we are happy right where we are! Maybe my cowboy has found a comfortable place to hang his hat for a while!

Cowboy wages = no moo-la! Thank goodness I came from a family that didn't thrive on material items! My Daddy (also a real cowboy) worked hard for every dollar he had, so when I fell in love with a cowboy I knew I wasn't marrying for money! During the first 5 years of our marriage we didn't have much... times were hard, but we made the best of them. There were many times that we lived from paycheck to paycheck, but we didn't need much. Like I said above, Mark always made sure we had what we needed. We had each other, friends, family and a pot of cowboy beans to keep us full!

All the late nights of hanging out with the cowboys... need I say more??? As a young & new wife, this was the one thing that made loving a cowboy tough! Through hard work and alot of love, we survived those days and look back on it a little wiser, a little older. Now that Mark is older, his idea of hanging out is sitting around the house with his cowboy buddies, having a cold beer and trading cowboy gear.

My advice to anyone who is smitten with a certain cowboy~ remember, "cowboys ain't easy to love", but it sure is worth it! Deep down under all that toughness, there's a heart of gold. I wouldn't trade in my cowboy for anything in the world!

p.s. Mark, thank you for this great journey you have let me be a part of! I am looking forward to many, many more years by your side.

~ Jennifer