Ghosts From The Past

It has been called "The World Series of Rodeo", or "The Greatest Show On Dirt". To be aloud to get out of school was huge, but to be aloud to skip school to go to the National Finals Rodeo was simply unbelievable. My grandfather was a businessman in Oklahoma City where it was held and had gotten tickets for my father and I knowing it would make my day...no, my life. The rest of my family wasn't interested in rodeo, cowboys, or anything of the sort but it was all I ate, slept, and breathed. Anticipation grew as we drove the three hours from home to my grandparent's house. It was all I could do to eat my supper at the huge smorgasbord restaurant. We drove to the fairgrounds coliseum and parked, beginning the long walk up to the banner covered building. Signage with pictures of the contestants, men I only knew as names and faces in magazines that were almost larger than life, lined the walkway.

We were ushered to our seats, about halfway up the aisle from the bottom. We sat, and opening the program purchased from the young ladies just inside the front door, I spent the last few minutes before the rodeo reading and perusing the pages soaking up everything into my memory, as I did everything from the night. The smell of popcorn, mingled with the obvious smells of rodeo, horses, and cattle, not to mention the fact that back then there were smokers scattered throughout the crowd, and you've got the picture. The routine would be repeated over he next few years as an annual ritual for my father and I to join my grandparents at the event that decided the world champions of rodeo and built dreams and aspirations in hearts and minds.

Those memories were still churning around and the images as clear as if they were yesterday as we approached the Thomas and Mack arena on the campus of University of Nevada Las Vegas, the home of the NFR for now over thirty years. It was hard to fathom that it had been well over the span of those thirty years since I had been to see a live performance of the greatest event in all of rodeo. I had gone off to college, graduate school, married, had children of my own, and my grandparents had both passed away years before this moment. Ironically, I had been to Las Vegas many times, and during the rodeo, but not to see it live. Only on the big digital screen in the hotels where I stayed. The tickets are hard to get. It's just easier to watch it in the hotel. The traffic, the parking, it's expensive, etc., etc...Well, any excuse will do if you're looking for one. But tonight, there were no excuses. Friends from the northwest had an extra ticket and wanted to give it to me. Give! Yes you heard me right. Give! That would have been like a treasure or winning the lottery to the young boy of years ago, but the gesture was not lost on the grown man the tickets were offered to. I was, of course, excited. We met for a quick dinner in the hotel coffee shop, rushed to catch the shuttle, and off we went. Down the streets lined with marques of famous entertainers but none of them would be seen by us tonight. We were on a mission. When we arrived at the arena, we walked down the thoroughfare lined with signage of champions just like many years before. The legends of yesterday, today, and some who will become legends before they are through. The crowd was huge, much bigger than I remember as a child and though there is no smoking aloud, the smell of popcorn was strong as we entered the lobby and a wave of nostalgia and memories raced through my mind and though it may seem a tad silly to some, I had to hold back the excitement as it felt like my heart would jump out of my chest. We found our seats and though they were in the upper level there really isn't a bad seat in the house. My heart swelled with pride as the large number of contestants representing Texas rode in and around the arena carrying the state flag, their numbers dwarfing any of the other states. We took pictures, we laughed, we cheered, and enjoyed the night with the people surrounding us as if we had known them all our lives. There was a common bond between us all. We were all like kids at Yankee Stadium during Summer vacation. Young, old, large, small, urban, rural, everyday people, and celebrities alike, we were all in the same boat. Spectators to history. Trevor Brazille clinching his eleventh All-Around World Championship, awards being given to the rookie of the year in each event, and an arena record being set in the barrel racing. All in all, due to the efficiency of the organization, we were back at the hotel in less than three hours, but the memories had been burned into permanence. Just as the sights, sounds, and smells of years ago are still burned in my memory, so these new memories will be for years to come. Seeing friends and acquaintances in the vast hallways of the arena and visiting with them only enhanced the experience.

There are people, places, things such as food, both tasted and smelled, that are part of the fabric of our mind sneaking their way into our thoughts with the sound of a song unheard for years or a familiar aroma wafting from the kitchen, that take us back to a place in time that changed us or made us what we are, good or bad. These were my companions for an evening in December. Ghosts of long ago coming back for a short visit. For just a while I was the kid from years ago. If only in thought, it was like my Dad, Grandad, and me at the rodeo again. A smile and a nod from a man who is himself a legend and an icon from way back then whom I have met but wouldn't bet he remembered me, tied the evenings from then and now together like a bow on a beautifully wrapped present. The evenings then and now will be forever intwined as if they were a package deal. Even though many years have passed, it seems like it's all one big trip. My how the time flies, when you're having fun.