Nostalgia

tonight, i said good-bye to my dwindling second family. four months ago, i met half of my twenty four person family, and reunited with the other half. as i expected, this summer far surpassed last year in terms of loving my job. i got up six days a week, and along with eight other people gathered, caught, and fed one hundred thirty horses, saddled a few of them, and ran the rest back out to pasture. this was my daily routine. all day we would ***** and moan about how much we hated our jobs, but each of us understanding that deep down we loved every bit of it. it was the work that drew us together. Yes, our job was physically harder than that of the kitchen and the housekeepers, but it wasn't so physically draining we had no energy left to tear it up. my favorite memories from my summer were the drunken dance parties, the fear that Dickey might hear us up at the house and come crash the party. it was the times we would go into town and get so ****faced we could barely walk, then throw beer bottles at signs all along the dirt road. it was the mornings of functioning on less than an hour of sleep and working off the drunkenness, knowing the hangover would hit right at lunch. memories like Ross doing a somersault out the Old Chicago window, Ryan puking in six flower pots in a row on college avenue, Doogun slamming a quarter of a bottle of whiskey, five beers, only to puke fifteen minutes before the staff show and then slam five more beers that keep me coming back. I'll never forget the showers where seven guys are competing for four showerheads, jamming out to Lil Wayne and throwing soap/shampoo/beer everywhere. Shower Parties part one and two were some of the funnest times i'd ever had.

I could recount all the fun times I've had with this family all night and into tomorrow morning. (six hours away) But I won't. Unless you experienced the drunken bike races down Call Box Hill on a five year old sized bike at one in the morning, or riding horses bareback through a pasture ridden with irrigation ditches and boulders at midnight knowing it would mean losing your job, would i dare tell you. It amazes me how strongly a person can bond with others in such a short period. On May 23'rd, i didn't know half of my fellow staff members. when the first person left on august 23'rd, I damn near lost it. I'll never forget how many times Brandon ran into his bunk trying to demonstrate that he was perfectly sober enough to jump up into it. I'll miss finding Jeff laying on the bathroom floor passed out after falling off the toilet. I'll miss walking into the kitchen in the morning and finding John tickling Brad in an attempt at making him crap himself.
that's all. Cherokee Park Ranch Staff '09, I love you and I will miss all of you, especially those of you I'll never see again.