ABOUT

As Waylon Jennings sang, “All My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys”. I grew up when westerns were the most popular genre on television. My brother and I would ride the arms of the sofa in our living room while watching Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Annie Oakley, Gene Autry, and so many others defeat the bad guys and save the day. Oddly enough, that living room was only fifteen miles from the New York City line.
 

It was only serendipity that brought me to Tucson, Arizona in my later years. Not only have I been to the annual rodeo, I’ve walked the ground John Wayne trod at Old Tucson Studios. I’ve watched the reenactment of the Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone more than once. I’ve had to slow down my car and watch for cattle when passing through open range. In a lot of ways, I’m living out my childhood fantasies.
 

Another way I’ve come to live out those dreams is by creating my own stories of what might have happened 150 years ago. In my stories, the guy always gets the girl, and it often takes both of them to save the day. A slightly modern update. But I also harken back to a time when faith was part of everyday life, when you didn’t have to question whether it would be appropriate to pray or sing a hymn.
 

If these are the kinds of stories you like, I hope you will try mine. And if it turns out you enjoyed one, please write so I’ll know there’s someone else out there who would have liked to be a cowgirl. Or a cowboy.