Who’s that Lady…

Luke and I have been married for 14+ years, but in terms of how much time we have actually physically spent together, we’re practically still in the honeymoon phase. However, even when we are together people often don’t think we are, well, together. Over the years there has been no shortage of people that have let us know this, and often in pretty humorous ways.

There was the time that I was introduced as “Cade’s mom” to one of the dads at our boy’s school. He couldn’t hide his confusion and responded with “But Cade’s dad is a cowboy...”. Ummm, yes he is, and I’m his mother. (*Note to self: start doing school drop off in chinks and spurs). But I got that message loud and clear - we don’t ‘go’ together.

By all outward appearances Luke very much looks the part of a cowboy. Whereas most people seem surprised when they find out that, I too, used to rodeo professionally. Luke has worn, quite literally, the exact same style of jeans every day for 15 years (not an exaggeration); and I own a clothing store - changing clothes is practically my job. Listen, I could make a list of our differences a mile long, aesthetically and otherwise, but ours is truly a case where opposites attract. For us, it’s often our differences that make us work, and one of the things I love the most about us.

Another major component that adds to the confusion is that we truly do have to spend a lot of time apart. We don’t get to do many of the things that couples usually do together. He’s at rodeos solo and I cover the majority of school events, weddings, and couples events on my own. I’m pretty sure that for the first 5 years of our marriage people in my life thought he was imaginary. I’ve had people mistake me for one of his relatives; they’ve thought my sister was actually his wife; I’ve even had women sit right behind me in the stands at a rodeo and debate whether or not he’s married (they decided he was not, by the way). Our marriage is like the world’s best kept, non-secret!

Case in point - I was at a rodeo without Luke a few years back and this nice young steer wrestler wandered over and  thought he’d hit on me. When he got to the part where he asked where I was from (so smooth), and I told him Los Alamos, the poor kid got excited and asked if I knew Luke Branquinho. Oops. The look on his face when I responded, “I’m married to him”, was more than a little funny, but I did try not to laugh - unlike all of his friends that had been lurking around and were now doubled over. *For the record he gets to maintain his anonymity because he was very polite and has suffered enough.

But my personal favorite case of mistaken identity happened the night of the 10th round of the finals in 2014. Luke had just won his 5th world championship and we were out with the masses celebrating. There are always lots of great people that want to meet Luke or take a picture, so I had taken up my usual spot about 3 feet behind him as he shook all the hands, and kissed all the babies. Pretty soon I noticed a couple girls standing pretty closely behind me. I didn’t pay much attention until I could hear that one kept sighing, and was inching closer. Finally she tapped me on the shoulder, visibly  annoyed, and said “Um, I think it’s your turn” and pointed at Luke. You guys, she thought I was waiting in line for my turn with Luke. In that moment, I turned to her, and did what any wife would - I apologized and let her cut in front of me.

I just want to make it clear though, none of these things upset me in the least. In fact, I find it charmingly amusing, because even from 3 feet away, I always know were I stand with Luke. You gotta get the laughs where you can, right?! And it’s nobody’s fault but our own;  just another byproduct of our crazy rodeo life.