The boys and I attended the family pig sale a few weekends ago and I was reminded why I am so thankful that I grew up in an agricultural family. If you didn’t know it by now, I grew up showing pigs and then when I graduated my family started raising and selling show pigs. Last year I wrote “The Stockshow Kid” and it ended up being one of my most read blog posts. This year looks a little different because of our good friend COVID.
Rewind to March and I remember reading the news that they had shut down the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Some exhibitors had just waited in line to unload their animals for twelve plus hours only to get forced to turn around , get back in line, and load everything back up. I couldn’t believe the news and I was shocked that an event so big that seemed untouchable was forced to stop.
Being in the middle of a pandemic, you never know how many families will take another risk on purchasing animals that may not get a chance to get anything in return. When they shut down the stock show the people present didn’t riot, they didn’t protest, they didn’t act like animals. They acknowledged that this situation was out of their control and they did what they were instructed to do. I am sure there were some very unhappy parents who just put a ton of money into these projects. Regardless, the people had faith that there was hope in the future.
The stock show industry doesn’t live in fear. They have faith that the show will go on. They take chances and with those chances they do it with class and grace. I have been out of school for ten years but every time I go back to the sale, I am reminded of the family atmosphere that is created. I want my boys to know that no matter where you come from, the way you treat people tells a lot about someone. I want them to know that success doesn’t come easy. Every school-aged kid that was there hoping to buy a pig was going after what they wanted despite the current circumstances that we are living in.
I don’t know where we will be in a few years when the boys are old enough to show. I don’t even know if they will have any interest in it by then. I don’t know if we will be in a place where we will be able to keep the animals and take care of them. What I do know is I hope that both of my boys have the chance to learn lifelong lessons from circumstances like these. Being ten years out of the game, there are not many people I even know anymore that were at the sale. As I chased around my two littles and watched from a distance, these people didn’t even know the effect they had on me that day and the example they were setting for my own two boys.
Even though my boys are too young to understand all of this, one day they will look back and realize that they are learning lessons from every life opportunity that comes their way. Whether it be a football field, their backyard, or the show ring.
