I don’t usually get riled up about strangers, but today? I damn near snapped.
It started at the feed store. I was picking up mineral blocks and fencing wire,
wearing my usual—mud-caked boots, faded jeans, and yeah, my long blonde
braid tucked under a beat-up ball cap. The guy at the counter gave me this look
like I was lost. Asked if I needed directions to the gift shop.
I said, “Nah, just here to buy the same stuff I’ve been buying every week for ten years.”
He laughed. Laughed.
Then he asked if my “husband” would be loading the truck.
I told him my husband left five years ago and the cows didn’t seem to care.
I run 240 acres on my own. Fix broken water lines, birth calves at 2 a.m.,
haul hay like it’s nothing. But people still see the blonde hair and the woman part and just… assume.