Welcome to my cowboys shrine!

According to Wikipedia, "A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico, which trace their roots back to Spanish settlers from Andalusia and became a figure of special significance and legend". The version of cowboys that i am obsessed with is not the historic version but rather the fictionalized version formed in late 1800's and early 1900's. I first learned about cowboys as a small child. I grew up in the bible belt of the United States where cowboys are a common subject of fascination for mostly young boys and old men. My papa watched black and white cowboy movies, listened to cowboy radio shows, and read paperback cowboy novels. I grew up playing cowboys and indians instead of the more common northern cops and robbers. I didn't truly become interested in cowboys until about a year ago when i read my first cowboy novel. I grew up watching the old black and white cowboy movies with my papa and then the more modern cowboy esque action movies with my Dad. I'd seen bits and pieces of the Smoky and the Bandit movies over the course of my life but only when they happened to come on cable and never with a lot of interest. After i read that cowboy book i began watching movies like Smoky and The Bandit, the 70s, 80s, and 90s action movies that carried the cowboy spirit. After reading that first cowboy novel i felt like a little kid again. All of the sudden i wanted to go back to my childhood of firing cap guns next to my sisters ears while she slept and playing cowboys and indians in the woods. When you are a little girl, before you hit puberty, you are almost viewed as genderless. Sure you're mother shoves you into a dress and stockings for sunday church but it's still acceptable for you to dig in the mud outside. As a little girl i could run and play with the boys, i had a type of freedom, from the moment i woke up to the moment the streetlights came on i was free to roam with my cousins or siblings. Sure our parents had sit limits, "Don't go past the stop sign at the end of the road", but for the most part i was free to do as i pleased. Then suddenly i hit puberty and it wasn't acceptable for me to run around outside, to come home with my clothes covered in mud, or to only play with boys. I've noticed this phenomenon nation wide but particulary here in the south. Before I hit puberty i was a cowboy. Playing in the woods next to my grandmothers house felt equivalent to being a cowboy searching for treasure. (For some reason searching for treasure is a common trope in cowboy novels). Discovering that book in my local library led me to rediscover the version of myself i'd been forced to lock away. Now i play outside unapologetically and i have cowboys to thank for it.