Cowboys and Ranch Dressing

I sat in my favorite neighborhood cafe this morning.

Had sweet potato fries near a large white window and asked for the house-made Ranch dressing.

There’s something warm and comfortable about the Ranch there; like Friday evening.

About 20 years ago I knew a Cowboy.

Picture perfect - in regards to what one must look like when being a Cowboy. Flannel, leather boots, even the hat; but the thing I remember most about him was a bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing in his back pocket.

I used to spend my Fridays with food and strangers. Some nice, some absent (to children at least) but never any that were cruel. I suppose; it would have been inappropriate to have been so. I was lucky in that way.

Marines

Diplomats

Wives who baked brownies and drank white wine-

Friday nights were like games of hide and seek in mango trees and birds of paradise, hearing conversations you wouldn’t think of again for 16 years - with a deeper ability to reflect on.

I learned about Ranch in Zimbabwe.

I approached a man who stood behind a table of pizza. His leather boots peeked out from under the cloth, I extended my plate forward-

“Here you go Missy.”

“Thank you!” I turned away, triumphant.

“Now hold on there! Don’t you want Ranch?” confused at his response, I swung back around and looked up to face him. My mind befuddled; he asked again,

“Don’t you want Ranch?”

“What's Ranch?”

YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT RANCH IS?

My skin went hot

Do you remember how ill embarrassment made us as children?

But within moments fear transformed into awe; in one smooth motion, a bottle of Ranch dressing emerged from his hands.

“I always carry a bottle in my back pocket.”

And I bet you never think about all the ways you might make a lasting impression on someone simply by being your authentic self.

It has been 20 years now -

And there are parts of me that knows somewhere out there is an old and tired Cowboy who never thinks of the time he told me about Ranch dressing…

But no matter the place, the meal, or the company -

I always order Ranch.

And it’s warm and comfortable

Like Friday evening.