“Rodeo talk” in our family starts in January. When we are prepping for Alison’s birthday, Reed inevitably will start talking about when HIS birthday is. We tell him: Ali’s birthday, then rodeo, then your birthday. He will go on-and-on about that series of events until they all come to pass.

Rodeo certainly was not as big of a deal in my family growing up. But that was not the case for Julie and hers. That event has certainly been talked up more to Reed than I ever was a part of, and because of it, Reed looks forward to rodeo. And it’s not all talk, either. When we sit down in the arena and the tractors, horses, calves and bulls are out, Reed is in a trance. His eyes are totally glued on what is happening in front of him. He really does love it, even more than we love going.

After finding out how much Reed loved the rodeo, my boss offered us seats in his box at the Wimberley Open Pro Rodeo this past weekend. We were leery of the event coming to fruition after having torrential downpours on Friday night and into Saturday morning, but it held off for the afternoon and evening, so we made the trip out there.

First we stopped at Brewster’s Pizza, just south on RR12, to meet our group and grab a bite. We got to the arena and saw how DEEP the mud in the arena was and how interesting this was going to make it for the animals and cowboys. Some competitors even dropped out for safety precautions (mostly team ropers and steer wrestlers). We saw plenty of wild rides and falls because of the severe condition of the arena, but for us spectators, it was a beautiful night for a rodeo. And Reed is STILL talking about it.