While in the Navy, I served with a former professional bull rider named John. He described a bull ride as the most dangerous eight seconds in sports. But, he said, it paled in comparison to his weekly Saturday night fights with his wife, Lucille.
John had me write a song about Lucille. I thought comparing your life with a woman as a bull ride was awful, and only with great trepidation did I perform it for Lucille with John standing next to her. Watching them melt into each other’s arms, cooing in love, opened my eyes to the strange range of possibilities in human relationships. Lucille later told me that the song was positively bodacious and captured their love perfectly. So it goes.
You can’t wave a wand, say magical words, and get a good loving relationship. Except in the movies, and I’m tired of perfect relationships forged in the fires of three scenes in a Hollywood potboiler. John and Lucille had wooed and wed on the rodeo circuit of the 1950s. John said that before Lucille, his favorite bar weapon had been a tall neck bottle of Budweiser. With Lucille, he had found sobriety, a lasting relationship, children, and Saturday evening knockdown and drag outs with the “missus.”
John and Lucille may negate an entire generation of Television relationship counselors. But for them, it works. If you happen to be in Lubbock on a Saturday night, listen for them, and say hi from Wes.
10 Replies to “Relationships”
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This made me chuckle. It is impossible to say what makes some relationships tick.
Bull riding is cruel and dangerous – especially in the Spanish areas. I love a proper old-loving relationshiop. They don’t exist much these days. Good story.
I agree with you. BTW – There was a bull named bodacious ( you can Google this) It was unrideable through nos of its career, in retirement it did beer commercials and guest appearances. Go figure. People are strange.
Ahh! Yes I’ve seen a Bodacious beer/bull commercial. So it was a real bull named Bodacious, thats cool knowledge thanks for sharing.
My dog thinks I’m pretty awesome.
And I’m sure that your dog has requisite taste!
He has been known to try and scarf down questionable fast food leftovers that he comes upon when we are on our walks. So SOMETIMES his taste is called into question
He just goes in for the “edgy” in life. He likes to skate on the edge of the abyss. A dog of offbeat, but discerning talents and taste, no doubt!
With a name like Hamish Macbeth he is destined to roam on the interesting side of life
And I thought the world had only recently lost it’s collective mind. Now I know it was lost a long time ago. Wow!