All of My Heroes Are Cowboys by Linda Broday

I've always loved Willie Nelson's song, "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys." The lyrics really speak to me and I think it captures the essence of the men who ride for the brand.

My heroes have always been cowboys.
And they still are, it seems.
Sadly, in search of, but one step in back of,
Themselves and their slow-movin' dreams.

It's a hard life. They work from sunup to sundown seven days a week in rain and snow and on days so hot it's difficult to breathe. They get no holiday time off.

But ask them and they'll tell you they want no other job. They love it.

I grew up in the best time when TV westerns and movies were everywhere. My parents were very poor so we didn’t own a TV, but every Saturday we’d go over to my aunt and uncle’s house and the magic would begin.

Though I couldn’t have been more than ten or eleven years old, I fell in love with Robert Fuller who played Jess Harper on Laramie. He was the handsomest man I had ever seen and he could draw that gun in nothing flat or whip a bad guy with his fists if he needed to. Even at that early age, a love affair was born.

There were lots of others too. Matt Dillon, Clint Walker of Cheyenne, Clint Eastwood, the Cartwrights of Bonanza, Lee Majors and Peter Breck of Big Valley just to name a few. Then came Sam Eliott, Tom Seleck and John Wayne. Oh man! These guys sure filled my dreams and taught me all about cowboys.

They’re a special breed, these real life men who ride the range. They have so much honor and dogged determination. They don’t know the meaning of quit. They’ll ride straight through hell and come out the other side when they need to. Maybe a little battered and bruised but still standing...and maybe wearing a crooked little grin.

A cowboy's love and respect for the land, family and animals goes bone-deep. That love is woven into the fabric of his being.

This is the type of man I model all my cowboy heroes after. Here in Texas I've seen them in action, watched their steady gaze in the dying light of the day, felt their fierce pride in doing a job well.