Personal Narrative Essay: The Code Of The West

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It hangs just to the right of our fireplace in the living room, printed on brown and white brindle hide, surrounded by a light cherry frame with copper studs in each corner, still smelling just like your typical old west branding yet printed by a much more accurate laser engraver. This wall hanging just so happens to be ‘The Code of The West’. Hanging right in one of the most used rooms in our house and not able to be missed are the ten codes that in my opinion should still be in the forefront of peoples’ minds as they live each day. The very first code has always stuck with me and although only being a short five word phrase, it has truly had a meaning and been evident in my life ever since June sixth of 2010. This short phrase states to, “Live each day with courage.” …show more content…

From a young age if I wasn’t with an immediate family member, you could find me with a man just ten years older than myself and more of a brother than a cousin. Some of my greatest memories as a child include my cousin Tim as a part of them. It didn’t matter if it was riding at the ranch arena on a nightly basis or accompanying him as he jumped his dirt bike off of a measly eight foot drop that at that time seemed like an eighty foot jump to a then four year old adventurous boy. I was his much smaller shadow that was always by his side or at his heels. After moving from Albin to Lagrange, it was a summer norm for Tim to drive the twenty miles to help process cattle or cut hay every day. Some of my best memories of those days came from him and I’s mischievousness. Whether it was tying my oldest sister down with his rope, riding the four-wheeler on two wheels or accompanying him in his ‘jam sessions’ as we cruised across the alfalfa fields cutting hay, I was just a ranch kid living the dream never realizing all of that could be taken away so

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