A Walk Down Cow-Chasing Memory Lane

I was going through some of my old things and I found a letter I wrote to a friend serving a mission inn Scotland for The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latterday Saints. It made me laugh so I thought I'd share part of it:

"Sunday, October 9th, 2005

Dear Friend,

I just went on the ride of my life! It's Sunday around 7 o'clock p.m. and we had a cow get out. My mom and I were the only ones at home so we scrambled to find shoes and coats. My mom beat me out to our blue Ford pickup and started it. Every time the blue truck gets started a huge cloud of black exhaust comes boiling out of the tailpipe. I had the unfortunate experience of stepping out onto the sundeck just as my mom started the blue truck. The world became dark for a moment as the haze of black exhaust past by me. I ran on towards the truck gagging and gasping. I jerked open the door and sprang up into the seat. My mom backed up and told me, "Hold on!"And, then, with my mother making "vrrrruming" sounds like a kid playing with toy cars, off we shot! The truck jolted forward throwing me in the same direction. This truck is definitely not a smooth ride! Down the driveway we bounced at top speed. My mom slammed on the brakes just as we came to end of the drive way. The coast was clear, so we erupted out the driveway onto the main road. I think my mom pealed out and left some rubber on the road. Our poor dog, Cain, was in the back of the truck holding on for dear life as we jounced down the road. We then whipped into the field where the culprit cow was. Now, if you've ever drove through a field, which for some strange reason I think you may have, you'll know that they can be extremely bumpy. Up and down! Left and right! Hit the seat! Hit the ceiling! I wish this truck had seat belts! I wish I had on a helmet! We zipped up by the cow, trying to get around her. Stupid cow! Now you have to realize that this situation was not frustrating, as herding cows can easily become. I was getting jolted around, sometimes it felt as if I was upside down I was bouncing so much, but my mother and I were laughing our heads off. We finally got around the cow and got her over by the gate. My mom rushed in to open the gate, while I dashed over to cut the cow off at the pass. My mom got the gate open and I intercepted the cow. The cow kept running at me, so being the true farm girl that's hidden somewhere deep inside me, I jumped up and down, hooting and hollering. "Hip! hip! Yehaw! Stupid cow! Hiyah! Whoooo! Heyup! Heyup!" The cow, probably frightened out of her mind at the luntic in front of her, turned tail and bolted through the gate.

After getting the gate put back up, we piled back into the old, blue truck. I told my mom, "Let's go tearing through that field again! That was fun!" My mom, with an imp like grin on her face, replied, " What! I would never drive like that!" We jostled up to the main road, and then. BANG! We were off! my mom said, "If you're going to drive this truck, you have to drive with attitude!" I told her, "Yah! Especially with that sticker in the back window!" You see we had to have the back window replaced , so the mechanic found a used one to replace it with. It has several rock radio station stickers on it, but that's not what's funny. There is a Calvin sticker with Calvin peeing of Saddam's name, around it read, "Kiss your *** goodbye!" Can you picture my family in a truck with that sticker?

Hope all is going well,

Your friend,
A Red-Haired Gal