{"id":33253,"date":"2008-04-28T12:42:30","date_gmt":"2008-04-28T12:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pat-matthews.com\/stories\/2008\/04\/28\/ride-em-cowboy\/"},"modified":"2008-04-28T12:42:30","modified_gmt":"2008-04-28T12:42:30","slug":"ride-em-cowboy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pat-matthews.com\/stories\/2008\/04\/28\/ride-em-cowboy\/","title":{"rendered":"Ride &#8216;em Cowboy!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From the &#8220;if only they knew what they were saying&#8221; category&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>We ended up having lunch at Moe&#8217;s this past Saturday afternoon. They had the TV on &#8211; tuned to a bull-riding show on ESPN. The kids were fascinated. <\/p>\n<blockquote dir=ltr style=\"MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px\">\n<p><em>&#8220;Why was that man trying to ride that buffalo?&#8221;<br \/>&#8220;Why does he keep falling off?&#8221;<br \/>&#8220;Did that hurt? That looked like it hurt?&#8221;<br \/>&#8220;Why is the bull trying to knock him over?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8230;You get the idea. During dinner that evening, C (our five year old) brought it up again. He wanted to know if I could ride a bull or not. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;No, I&#8217;ve never tried,&#8221; I said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;d be very good at it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He looked disappointed, and I suddenly remembered a long forgotten remnant about my wife&#8217;s past. &#8220;But your mom has ridden a mechanical bull,&#8221; I added. &#8220;I bet she could.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She laughed. &#8220;That&#8217;s right I have!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>C was confused &#8220;A mechanical bull?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>His mom explained to him that some restaurants have mechanical bulls for people to try. They went back and forth about this for a while, until I realized what was stumping him. &#8220;For practice,&#8221; I chimed in. &#8220;So you can practice before you get on a real bull.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Oh!&#8221; He nodded. He understood practice. &#8220;Wait!&#8221; He said to me, suddenly having an idea. &#8220;That&#8217;s what you can do before you ride!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Me ride?&nbsp;Before I ride what?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You can practice! Mom can pretend to be the bull &#8211; just like the robot &#8211; and you can ride her. You can practice! How about that?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>There was, as you might imagine, a little bit of quiet after this question as his momma and I tried&nbsp;not to laugh.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Huh. That&#8217;s not a bad idea. What do you think, momma? Feel like giving&nbsp;daddy&nbsp;a ride?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think that would be such a good idea, daddy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I could get a cowboy hat.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Yeah, yeah!&#8221; Both kids chimed in<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;No&#8230;My back&#8217;s a little sore.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Oh well. At least she didn&#8217;t say she had a headache.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the &#8220;if only they knew what they were saying&#8221; category&#8230; We ended up having lunch at Moe&#8217;s this past Saturday afternoon. They had the TV on &#8211; tuned to a bull-riding show on ESPN. The kids were fascinated. &#8220;Why was that man trying to ride that buffalo?&#8221;&#8220;Why does he keep falling off?&#8221;&#8220;Did that hurt? 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