City Roots, Cowboy Boots

We don’t get to choose our upbringing. We’re born into a family, given parents, and inherit their passions, their choices, and sometimes even their challenges. We don’t choose the landscape that surrounds us as kids, the available activities, or the values that shape our early years. Instead, we make the best of what’s laid out in front of our eager, impressionable eyes.

A friend I met in Penticton epitomizes this truth. An unbelievable hockey player, he skated in the BCHL with Paul Kariya, and some say he was even more skilled than the Hall of Famer himself. Yet, despite multiple hockey scholarships offered his way, he chose not to pursue a career on the ice. Raised on a ranch, his roots ran deep into that soil, and he was a rancher at heart—that’s what he loved, that’s who he truly was. Today, his very talented daughter, whom I’ve coached, has followed the same path, choosing ranch life over hockey, showing just how strong a calling can be when it’s in your blood.

It all started in BC

My own upbringing was different. My parents were city folk, and I spent most of my younger years surrounded by city life. But my older cousin introduced me to hunting, fishing, trapping, and even taxidermy. At around eleven or twelve years old, I discovered my love for the outdoors and a connection to nature that would only grow stronger.

That love flourished when I moved to British Columbia in 1992. With endless miles of Crown Land, BC became the ultimate playground for an outdoorsman. It was here that I truly discovered the “Country Lifestyle.” I had always admired horses but felt a bit intimidated by their sheer size and power—one fall and you’d certainly feel it! But I also learned how smart, gentle, loving, and obedient they could be.

Growing up, I was into hard rock from the ’70s and ’80s. But living in Penticton, after they built the South Okanagan Events Centre, the only major acts coming to town were big Country artists—Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Eric Church, Clint Black, Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan. If I wanted to see live shows, I had to start listening to Country! I subscribed to Sirius XM and tuned into “The Highway,” discovering that Country music spoke to me in ways I hadn’t expected. Dirt roads, pickup trucks, beer, heartbreak—it all felt like home.

With my sister living near Calgary, I began visiting the Calgary Stampede, where I bought my first cowboy hat, some Western shirts with snaps, and cowboy boots. I fell in love with the lifestyle. My sister and her partner had a few horses, and I rode some of them; my daughters were equally enchanted with riding, and today, my oldest has a couple of horses of her own. Her whole family rides, carrying forward a tradition I’m proud to see.

I’m unapologetically a redneck at heart. I love the values that come with cowboy life—the respect for others, the pride in hard work, and the deep connection to the outdoors. Country music is still my go-to, though I do enjoy my Classic Rock and other genres. There’s nothing like the peace I find far from the city’s rush, traffic, and noise. I stand by the old saying: if a man can’t pee off his porch, he’s living in the wrong place.

Cowboys share a code built on respect, loyalty, and hard work. We value honesty and honour, looking out for each other and holding close a bond with the land. These values aren’t just traditions—they’re a way of life.

As the late Toby Keith sang… I should’ve been a cowboy!