I don't know about any of you other people out there that have just recently been married... or even just left the house for college... or just finished college... (basically any big "growing up" step in life) but there are times that I just feel old. Strange thing to feel, I know... being just twenty years of age, you'd think that I'd not have a problem with such a feeling. But anyways.
Thursday we encountered quite an unordinary thing- on our way home from the mountain we came across a rolled horse trailer-- accompanied by a mashed pickup and hurt horses as well as some rain-splattered college kids doing their best to help their Professor and his wife get things back in order. We stopped, flashers on to let others coming around the sharp corner know that there was a problem ahead... then got out of the suburban and walked up to the sight of the accident, curious about the hows and whys, but first offering our assistance. I had my boss's 4 kids with me-- all of them younger than me. We hung around for about an hour offering helping hands, ideas, and support for all involved. We talked with the college kids from BYU-Idaho and pieced together what had happened, helped stop the bleeding of an injured horse leg, saw them pull the trailer upright and bend the wheel well back into shape, and reconnect the beat up trailer to the beat up truck. Everything turned out just fine- no people got hurt, the 5 horses in the trailer were more-or-less okay, and the trailer and truck were operational as they pulled out in front of us. We breathed a sigh of relief and offered a quick prayer of thanks as we sent them on their way. The man in charge then shook my hand and I asked his name- the strong voice echoed the strong grip of the weathered cowboy- he too, I could tell, was relieved things were stabilized, at least, if not quite 'okay'. He thanked me with a bit of a smile and a nod of his head, and then he was gone...
We walked back to the suburban in a somber mood. Accidents do that to you sometimes- make you realize just how easily things can go awfully wrong... We were all grateful that they were safe and on their way home. But the thing that most stuck in my mind was the feeling I had as I shook that older man's hand- the way he looked at me and the respect and admiration that was unspoken there. He was glad to see that we were willing to stop and help- to stay with them until they got on the way again, and to know that there are still good people in the world. I felt as I shook his hand that I was just as much as an adult as he was. He spoke to me as an equal. And it felt really good to be my own person... to feel 'grown up' so-to-speak. Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but it seems to me that working here in the Tetons with guests from all over the world with bosses that are SO very giving and thoughtful and ready at any turn to offer any assistance they can-- working here is teaching me more every year I come back. It's teaching me to be an adult. To take on the world in a way many of us have forgotten. My bosses think of everyone and everything before they think of themselves- and I do so admire them for that quality- they are very selfless and I'm trying each day to be more like them in that regard.
And such is my story of the week. I felt older as I went through this experience... and I realized later that this is what life is all about. We "grow up" because of the life experiences we go through. This is why some people seem more mature than others their age- simply because they've gone through and learned from more testing and hard moments than others sometimes. I may be just twenty years old, but being married and working on a Wagon Train in the Tetons as a head cook makes me feel older sometimes... strange, but very true.
No comments:
Post a Comment