More Cow Bell…

I came across a post on Cow Bells and two thoughts immediately came to mind.

Thought 1: MORE COW BELL!

Several years ago, our team concluded a sales meeting with top performer recognition.  And my team (orchestrated by Elise) played the Saturday Night Live skit “More Cow Bell” to close the day. It was the first time I had seen it. I’m still laughing. Not sure if they intended me to be the producer Bruce Dickinson (played by Christopher Walken) or the cowbell player, Gene Frenkle (played by Will Ferrell). Either way, the depiction of my management style was not all that flattering. 🙂  Here’s a short clip of the skit:

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Thought 2: WHERE ARE THE &!@*# COWS?

I grew up on a small farm.  After the early morning milking, our cows were let out to graze on miles (and miles and miles) of heavily forested and mountainous terrain.  When it was time to milk in the afternoon, we had to go find them.  The studies say that eldest child in the household (that would be me) has a higher IQ.  I don’t buy it.  Because each afternoon when it was time to go fetch, my younger brother (middle child who did in fact spend a disproportionate time in the bathroom – a characteristic aligning with research findings), was nowhere to be found.  So, the chore was left to me…in sweltering heat…I trudged around the hillsides…hoping the cows were not lying in the shade under a tree quietly chewing their cud…and thereby making it impossible for me to hear their cowbells and for me to find them.  The memories..wave after wave of them…similar themes…I’m sweating…cursing at my brother…stumbling through the thick underbrush…and pleading that the incessant itching on my scalp and back was not the Rocky Mountain Wood Tick (or a family nesting).

When I watched this clip, it hit me.  If I had only learned how to play…I could sit at the base of the hillside…play and play and play…and serenade the beasts back to the barn.  Yet another life lesson coming far too late to take any advantage.