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Never Burn Your Moving Boxes
A young woman’s struggle with marriage and motherhood on
some of the most remote ranches in the American West.
Jolyn Young grew up in the “real” northern California—the
forgotten area at the tip-top of the state with small towns, extreme poverty,
and about 40 miles to the Oregonian mountains. In a childhood defined by a
subdivision, she decided she wanted to be a cowboy, and two years out of
college, she saw that dream through, taking a job at a Nevada ranch in the
search for a lifestyle subsisting of horses, cattle, and the wide open range.
Falling in love was never part of the plan.
Jim Young was tall, strong, and could ride a bronc and rope
a steer like no one’s business. And before she knew it Jolyn found her
cowboyin’ dreams overtaken by a new and intoxicating cowboy reality. With long
days side by side in the saddle, nights sharing a bedroll, and the deep satisfaction
that came with hard physical work in a place filled with natural beauty, it
seemed life was all a strong-willed young woman might want it to be.
But when a baby-to-be suddenly spun her wild romance into a
very practical marriage, and one decrepit ranch trailer home led to the next,
Jolyn found her young family desperately seeking stability in what is by
definition a transient lifestyle that moves with the seasons. Often hours from
the nearest grocery store and half-a-day from the closest hospital, pregnancy,
childbirth, and illness required a do-it-yourself mentality. With days,
sometimes weeks on her own as Jim worked the farthest reaches of whatever
ranchlands they currently called home—and first with one child to care for…and
eventually with three—Jolyn fought profound loneliness, finding comfort in
writing and company in her camera.
As the cowboy lifestyle pulled them further toward the brink
of civilization and Jim’s drinking became a liability, losing him jobs and
sending them packing, again, to yet another, different, distant cow camp, Jolyn
struggled with the knowledge that she was choosing a life of scrubbing filthy
mobile home floors and bunkhouse bathrooms in order to keep her family
together. It would take leaving it, and Jim, for her to determine whether a
world built on risk could coexist with the responsible mother she had needed to
become.
With a memoir that is brave, honest, and heartbreakingly
funny, Jolyn Young has written the story of every young adventure-seeker, every
new mother, and every partner who has loved an alcoholic in a whole new
light—that of a campfire, on the edge of the desert night, miles away from cell
phone reception.
some of the most remote ranches in the American West.
Jolyn Young grew up in the “real” northern California—the
forgotten area at the tip-top of the state with small towns, extreme poverty,
and about 40 miles to the Oregonian mountains. In a childhood defined by a
subdivision, she decided she wanted to be a cowboy, and two years out of
college, she saw that dream through, taking a job at a Nevada ranch in the
search for a lifestyle subsisting of horses, cattle, and the wide open range.
Falling in love was never part of the plan.
Jim Young was tall, strong, and could ride a bronc and rope
a steer like no one’s business. And before she knew it Jolyn found her
cowboyin’ dreams overtaken by a new and intoxicating cowboy reality. With long
days side by side in the saddle, nights sharing a bedroll, and the deep satisfaction
that came with hard physical work in a place filled with natural beauty, it
seemed life was all a strong-willed young woman might want it to be.
But when a baby-to-be suddenly spun her wild romance into a
very practical marriage, and one decrepit ranch trailer home led to the next,
Jolyn found her young family desperately seeking stability in what is by
definition a transient lifestyle that moves with the seasons. Often hours from
the nearest grocery store and half-a-day from the closest hospital, pregnancy,
childbirth, and illness required a do-it-yourself mentality. With days,
sometimes weeks on her own as Jim worked the farthest reaches of whatever
ranchlands they currently called home—and first with one child to care for…and
eventually with three—Jolyn fought profound loneliness, finding comfort in
writing and company in her camera.
As the cowboy lifestyle pulled them further toward the brink
of civilization and Jim’s drinking became a liability, losing him jobs and
sending them packing, again, to yet another, different, distant cow camp, Jolyn
struggled with the knowledge that she was choosing a life of scrubbing filthy
mobile home floors and bunkhouse bathrooms in order to keep her family
together. It would take leaving it, and Jim, for her to determine whether a
world built on risk could coexist with the responsible mother she had needed to
become.
With a memoir that is brave, honest, and heartbreakingly
funny, Jolyn Young has written the story of every young adventure-seeker, every
new mother, and every partner who has loved an alcoholic in a whole new
light—that of a campfire, on the edge of the desert night, miles away from cell
phone reception.
258 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 26, 2023
7 people are currently reading
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 30, 2024
Brutally honest. A rare find. An enlightening read.
I could go on.
This book had me flipping pages since the first one. I took it on a walk.
I learned about the cowboy culture of Nevada. I learned about perseverance.
This is a story for the tough ones that don’t give up and refuse to back down.
I could go on.
This book had me flipping pages since the first one. I took it on a walk.
I learned about the cowboy culture of Nevada. I learned about perseverance.
This is a story for the tough ones that don’t give up and refuse to back down.
September 30, 2023
Hard to put down and do necessary life!
Enjoyed every word and sentence. Some descriptions of places and happened with brought snickers others memories and still others heartache . Will be watching for the next book.
Enjoyed every word and sentence. Some descriptions of places and happened with brought snickers others memories and still others heartache . Will be watching for the next book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews