Are You Living It?

James Schaffer’s “Visor Warning” rung a bell for me yesterday, though not quite like it did for him. The tree limb brought back memories of my childhood with my younger brother Ross. When I was about 7, I remember leading him along on a horse through the trees. I didn’t realize how low the branches were until one cleanly scraped Ross off the horse and onto the ground. As the day progressed something kept nagging at me. I felt throughout the day that I was forgetting something, checked my schedule over and over, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. It seems that if I don’t write something down I never remember to do it, so I figured I must have forgot to write something down. I found myself awake this morning at 2:30 AM. It hit me, Yesterday was the 26th, my brother’s birthday, only it wasn’t September 26, it was August 26, and I completely forgot.

As I layed there thinking about Ross’ Belated Birthday, I realized that he has been living his passion all along. Sometimes we don’t see the whole picture until all the dots are connected.

High School Rodeo was our sport of choice as kids. We would travel endless miles across Oregon in the spring and summer, horse trailer in tow. Ross was riding Saddle Bronc horses and spent more time in the air sometimes than on the horse. We would continuously give him a hard time. After several concussions, we said he should try something else before he beat himself up too much. He didn’t listen. He kept trying, hitting the ground, practicing more, hitting the ground. We just thought he was hard headed, which actually came in handy when landing on it. But he was not deterred. He kept it up, and slowly he stayed on to finish the rides more, and more often. By the time he graduated he had earned a scholorship in rodeo for college! Over the next few years his persistance in living his passion payed off in earning his place as the Western Regional Saddle Bronc Champion.

He has continued on with his passion for horses and is currently a respected Cutting Horse Trainer in Redmond, Oregon (Ross Linton Cutting Horses). With the help of his wife Treash they keep the horse business in the family. Their daughter Jozlyn is on her way into the world of horses as well, but hopefully not the bucking kind.

My hat is off to you Ross. Keep living your passion, you realized it long before I did!