Wild Soul HOPE

Red Shirts & Cow Pies: Confessions of a Gullible Little Sister

A Sunday Funday Field Note with Sharon Lea

Before I learned to trust my intuition…I trusted my brother. Big mistake. Huge. 

I was a gullible little girl with big blue eyes, tangled red hair, and an open heart that believed everything my older brother told me. And believe me — he knew it.

One day he told me we needed cow pies — “really fresh ones” — to leave on the neighbor’s porch as a prank. “They’ll love it,” he said. “Just grab the best ones from the bull pen.”

So I did. Wearing red. Because apparently that makes it more exciting when you’re dodging angry, unpredictable bulls who think you’re challenging them to a duel. To this day, cows make me nervous. Really nervous.  I know how unpredictable and mean they can be.

 I’d gather the cow pies (barehanded, of course), thinking I was part of a grand, honorable mission. They were more like frisbees anyways. Only to find them later. in my bed. Or lovingly wrapped as a “surprise gift.”

Another time, he told me we had to catch ground squirrels to “keep the ranch running properly.” I thought it was a sacred task. I caught them — by hand — and to this day I still have tiny scars on my fingers to prove it. Serves me right for scaring the cute little things. They didn’t want to be caught. And honestly… neither would I, in hindsight. 

HOPEfully Human Soul Note:

I look back at that wild, trusting little girl now, and I don’t see weakness. I see heart. I see courage. I see a soul who believed in people and purpose, even when the plan involved cow pies and squirrels.

And yes, I’ve had to unlearn a few things since then — like when to say no, how to read a bull’s body language, and that love doesn’t always come wrapped in manure. But I wouldn’t trade those feral memories for anything. Because the same spirit that once ran barefoot into a bull pen… Now walks boldly into healing, soul-first.

Another Sunday Funday Field Note

Because growing up wasn’t gentle, but it sure made me interesting.

When the Soul Remembers HOPE available now at https://books.by/wild-soul-hope or Amazon or Kindle