One month later, I went to the annual stock show with my grandpa and little brother. My little brother wasn’t nearly as entertained as I was. Unlike him, I love to check out the show livestock, especially since showing steers and prized hereford bulls at county and national fairs is in my blood. I found a cattleman’s cowboy hat that looked almost identical to Steve’s and payed for it. The only difference was mine was made out of white canvas while Steve's was made of brown leather. It didn’t come with a feather, but on the way back to the car on the first day of the stock show, I found a stray peacock feather tip on the ground that was surprisingly dry and clean, so I shoved it into my hatband.

I returned for the rodeo the next day, where my little brother complained a lot less. You can’t possibly be bored when you’re watching rodeo legends ride legendary bulls, and people performing crazy stunts on galloping horses with no saddles or bridles. There was one injury that day, and that was because a teenage girl’s barrel horse slipped and rolled over on top of her, but we later found out she was discharged from the hospital and expected to make a full recovery.

Summer rolled around again, and my mom and grandma wanted to treat me to a trip to Los Cabos, Mexico. I’ve never been to Mexico before then, though I’ve been to a couple other countries and traveled from coast-to-coast in my own. I was excited to rest on the resort beaches for a week. I was even more excited when I had the opportunity to ride horses on the beach. My mom and grandma were terrified, but they did it for me.