A Bride, a Groom and Cowboys

Labor Day is a great weekend. It’s long and leisurely like a holiday should be and this year I spent it with friends and family in Eastern Oregon and Washington. With Moka, my traveling buddy in tow, we made our way across the state to Hermiston, OR to attend the wedding of one of my closest friends, Adrianne and Matt. It was an AMAZING time! Adie was such a beautiful bride and it was so fun to be a bridesmaid in her picture perfect wedding. Seriously, the wedding reception looked like a party that could be featured in InStyle Magazine. Absolutely beautiful! And I must say that of all the dancing I’ve done this summer, this wedding DJ wins a blue ribbon because I haven’t had so much fun dancing in a long time. I don’t think I left the dance floor for more than two minutes. I was a little sore the following day and could have used some time to recuperate, but before I could even say goodbye Oregon, we were on our way to Walla Walla, WA to visit my grandparents and partake in a little county fair rodeo action.

Almost every summer my grandpa takes me to the rodeo. It’s a tradition of ours. Even though I'm a big city girl, there is a part of my personality that is a little "country." Small-town America has influenced the fabric of my life. I have so many fond childhood memories I can reflect on like riding horses on grandpa's farm, picking and eating too many boysenberries, playing pool in grandma's basement and going to the rodeo, something I relived this weekend… I get such an adrenaline rush watching cowboys wrestle steers or try to withstand eight seconds of tortuous movement on a bucking bronco. It’s a dangerous sport, but there’s just something about watching a rodeo in a town like Walla Walla. In fact, I’ll quote Moka who said, “Doesn’t the rodeo just make you love America?!” Well, as a liberal girl from the West side of the state, it’s hard for me to feel patriotic these days, but I had moments when I actually felt, okay I’ll say it, a little proud. The feeling first rushed through me as I sat on the grandstands watching a cowboy gallop his horse around the arena while holding the American flag. A country song was playing and the cowboy sped up with the pace of the song and it just got everyone so riled up. It was pretty cool to see so many people cheering for our country. Not something you see everyday. The next moment, if you will, occurred while watching the world’s number one bull-rider Matt Austin. He rode the scariest looking bull with so much grace. It was really cool to see. Anyway, Moka is now convinced she wants to date a cowboy and although I don’t see myself with one, I can understand why.