On Being a Ranch Child

Join my daughter, Morgan, and me as we celebrate our shared birthdays from Montana. Morgan, as described by Deborah, is a “Ranch child”. Morgan was seven years old when I started my job at the Ranch.  When I was hired, I told Deborah that the only way I could take the job was if my daughter could spend as much time with me as possible at the Ranch. And though children under 14 are not permitted to be guests at the Ranch, Deborah agreed to allow Morgan to be with me. We kept her mostly out of sight yet she became known by our guests and the staff very quickly. First, she came for the summers, holidays, and school breaks, and then during junior high, she came to live with me full time. She was tutored at the Ranch; one instructor taught her geography, one math, another voice lessons, and another all the other subjects. It was a true example of it takes a village to grow a healthy person to adulthood. She learned to make jewelry and helped in the art studio as well as taking workshops on journaling and occasionally even took a class or hike. For high school, she went to school at an all-girls academy in San Diego and still visited the Ranch as much as possible. After completing her undergrad degree in San Francisco and becoming a certified yoga instructor she completed her Masters of Science and Social work at the University of Texas at Austin. She currently works full time in Austin where she is a therapist for high-risk young adults. She continues to teach and practice yoga and brings the life skills she learned at the Ranch like mindfulness, self-compassion, humility, humanitarianism, equality, justice, and empathy to her counseling and classes. She has taken up painting and continues her passion for reading and tries to get outside as much as possible since the pandemic started back in March. Morgan and I feel like the guests of the Ranch have all been family to us! We look forward to sharing some time with you- virtually!