SaddleMates
This is not your ordinary “about us” segment.
And, we’re not ordinary. Neither is our connection. Father-in-law and son-in-law, BFF? Really?!
We explain a bit about the way our relationship enriched over the years in The Long Ride and the section where we define Generational Fathering.
There is a life code developed in the white hot furnaces of our nation’s crawl westward: “The Cowboy Way.” It’s not political, not religious, and not just a cute slogan. You saw it lived out on the Ponderosa ranch of "Bonanza." You even heard it in the songs cowboys still sing today…”where the only law, was doing what’s right.”
Sure, we’ve lived in the city. We don’t now. Matt in the high plains ranch country of Utah, Gary in the horse country desert foothills of southern California. Gary is a retired naval officer, businessman, missionary and rancher. “Retired” means that the things he does now don’t bring a paycheck. Well, he does get paid a little as a substitute teacher, but his role as a teacher is more as a steward of the worldview he’s earned in the hard-scrabble clawing through life. It also is a high-value currency in the exchange between teachers and parents and the children they are suppose to prepare to lead in the next generation, hence a prime piece in forming the concepts for Generational Fathering.
MATT PETTIT, L.M.F.T. That means Matt is the clinical expert as a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Through his work at a large residential ranch in the wilds of Utah and his private practice, Matt daily plows the hard ground of sadness and challenge serving as the bridge between kids in max trouble and their parents who feel desperate and out of control. His “work” includes group therapy around horses often leading the teens on cattle drives, vision quests, and mountain survival hikes. Living stories along the legacy trail leave stories of hope and horror, of the good and the awful with few generational blessings and way too many generational sins. After 13 years of practice, Matt is filling his notebook chock full of stories sad and wonderful. Matt is married to Cari, Gary’s daughter, and they wrangle three cowboys and attend two princesses in the mountain ranch country of south-central Utah. As a practicing Christian, Matt’s outlook and his worldview is rooted in his personal commitment to Christ as his life cornerstone.
Matt's fruitful journey is worth a closer read...see MORE on Matt
GARY TAYLOR, C.O.O.T...As in the “old coot” of the family. While rancher, businessman, missionary, pastor, writer, even, retired fighter pilot Navy captain, all might look good on a business card, Gary is counting on “father” to be the headline on his epitaph. It only became true in the last quarter of his life that he shifted his energies and his commitments from “success” to “significance”. It was a shift from projects to legacy. Gary has determined that what he wants to be remembered for is not what he did, but what he left behind: multiple generations of good and godly men and women as beacons of righteousness in a turbulent world.
Gary's very full life of adventure and his walk with God can be an inspiration...see MORE on Gary
