It’s time to grab your best pair of blue jeans and the cleanest cowboy boots you’ve got. Go ahead and trade your cowboy hat for a party hat, because one of the most important Yellowstone birthdays is today. Everyone’s favorite cowboy, ranch hand, and — if we may be so honest — hunk, Rip Wheeler, found a reason to celebrate on September 28.
Growing up, Rip wasn’t the kind of kid who had friends and family celebrate him with gifts, cake, and parties; as the series progresses, fans discover the heartbreaking reason for the lack of happy birthdays in Rip’s history. He didn’t have the kind of family who excitedly counted down the days waiting for life’s big moments; it simply wasn’t the kind of existence that warranted it, making it all the more heartbreaking.
Things changed for Rip when he found the Dutton family, however, and while it took a lot of hard work to get there, he soon recognized that there could be a life for him outside of the hurt and abandonment he’d always known. When John Dutton (Kevin Coster) took him in, he was giving a boy a chance he’d never had, but he was also gaining a son, a loyal protector, a right-hand man, and the greatest man he’d ever cross paths with. So there’s no better day than today to celebrate the man beneath the black cowboy hat.
Happy Birthday, Rip Wheeler
As we said above, Rip Wheeler, played by the ever-charming Cole Hauser, never had much reason to celebrate big days, let alone the day he was born. Coming from a troubled past, there’s not a lot of space that Rip allows himself to take up. He’s said, more than once, that there’s not even a record of him existing on this earth. Beth isn’t taking that lying down. … Okay, so maybe during this conversation, she is, but only because they’re snuggled up together.
Remember how we said the story of his lack of celebration was heartbreaking? Well, it is. There’s not a thread of proof anywhere in the realm that proves Rip is even a person, and while that hurts on a grand scale, it also stings to think that Rip has lived his life — up until the point of meeting the Duttons without ever having a place to belong.
So despite having no “proof” that Rip belongs here, Beth knows he belongs with her. She decides that September 28 is a good day to honor the love of her life, and we think so, too.
Rip came into Beth’s life like a dust devil, shaking things up and wrecking the life she once knew. It wasn’t violent, just a strong force suddenly in her path — an existence that changed everything. From the moment they met, their story was being written, one neither of them could have imagined leading them to a married happily ever after.
They were two kids with a chip on each of their shoulders, holding on to every reason in the world to be angry. Yet, there was something beautiful about the way they held on to remnants of hope and just a little bit of magic, and that magic was what they found in one another.
Rip became John Dutton’s right-hand man and a powerhouse on the ranch; starting from humble beginnings, he’s soon to be living in the main house. He is the person John trusts most in the world and the person who can calm any storm brewing within Beth. Rip is a well-rounded cowboy, ready to jump into action with no warning and, in the same breath, able to check it all at the door and sit down for dinner with the love of his life, whispering sweet nothings into her ear. He’s a man who can do it all.
To be honest, we don’t know if the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch could run at all without him. He’s strength and pride, confidence and power, and a soft place to land all at once. Rip is the series’ heart, soul, and the Dutton family’s glue. So we agree with Beth; September 28 is the day to celebrate him. Heck, we honor Rip every day!
Beth taught Rip to live a life worth celebrating
It wasn’t until Rip met Beth that he recognized what real love meant, and that doesn’t mean that they haven’t experienced their (not so) fair share of ups and downs, but they’ve always been there for one another when it mattered. Rip has always loved Beth, never needing so much as a sorry from her when she’s tried to put her walls up to keep him out.
The best moments in Yellowstone came when Beth decided to let him shatter through those walls altogether, destroying every brick that ever dared stand between them. On a rooftop under the stars, Beth asked Rip to save the words “I love you,” until they really meant something, and when he did — she saw that love for what it truly was.
Now, nothing will ever stand in their way again.
“I look at every day with you as a gift. My tomorrows are, well, they’re all yours.”
Rip’s tomorrows all belong to Beth Dutton, and our hearts are all a little bit in love with the power couple that they are. Here’s to Rip’s birthday, the woman who helped him find a reason to celebrate and will help him keep finding them for all of their tomorrows to come.
Published: Sep 28, 2023 11:37 am