getting ready for the fair....

I am trying to spend a few more minutes laying in my bed hanging onto the last bit of calm before the storm. This week is Fair Week. I know that means so many different things to so many people.

My earlier memories of the Fair had to do with marching in the Band Competition. Loading up in the buses and heading for Lubbock. After putting on our uniforms we stood there along with all the other bands waiting to walk down the old brick streets. The judges would sit on top of a tall building and look down and judge our "lines" and music. Oh the memories of all those songs...On Broadway...The Horse...Peter Gun...We had so much fun! I LOVED band and I think that has something to do with Dustin's love for it as well. After the competition we were able to get into the Fair for free. As I sit here my head just floods of memories of those times with my friends. Good times...

Once I moved to Wisconsin the Fair took on new meaning. Rob's mom was fair secretary for many years. So that meant that if you were family then you had a job. And so I have spent many, many, many hours at the County Fair. I remember one year the weather being terribly hot and at I was 6 months pregnant. My job was to take the Clown to all the schools the day before the fair started. That was one weird clown I tell ya. I have worked as photography supervisor several times. I have also helped in the flower area with Grandma. My kids have went from sleeping in playpens in the fair secretaries office to now this year Dustin's band is one of the main acts. We have witnessed the cloggers and demo derby probably more times than I ever desired. We have been to pretty much every meat animal sale and spend much of our time roaming the barns talking to friends. And then for the past few years our favorite entertainment is the "Catch a Pig" contest. They have actually had to turn away teams because it is so popular. I have had such an incredibly fun time sitting in the stands watching my past professors and doctor that are good friends rolling around in mud trying to grab a pig and put it into a barrel. This may all sound a little ridiculous and silly to most people but it is one of the best times of the fair around here...Although I guess not everyone agrees because word is that there is suppose to be a group of protesters outside the gates this year...hhmmm....

Well Rob's mom is no longer Fair Secretary and hasn't been for many years but now Rob's cousin actually has the job so "here we go again". I'm not really complaining because the only "job" I have is taking tickets at the top of the grandstands for the Pig Contest. Rob has many more hours there with the skid steer working at the track for the lawn mower races and the Demo Derby. He will also be in the Skid Steer Contest. This is where you have all kinds of farmers and contractors using their skid steers to do all kinds of tedious things and the one with the best score is the Champion...LOL!

But our main activity this year will be our Jamaican Mission Program tent. I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to get to spend the week and weekend with all my JMP friends. We have a Huge tent that was donated by a local fire dept. Doc made an amazing counter that is painted with the Jamaican flag. We are serving Jerk Pork, Pumpkin Rice and Rolls. Or you can just get Jerk Pork on a stick. Then we are making Carmel apples and all kinds of desserts. We are also having a silent auction with some Great items. Doc and Nichole also made a wonderful slide show about what we do in Jamaica. We watched it last night and it just makes me want to be back there with those kids right now.

So now you might understand why I am trying to enjoy these last few moments before the running begins. I know that it will be a crazy busy week but I know my week will be full of laughter and lots of visiting. I love places like that where my last 20 years is like a melting pot. I run into people that I became friends with during my first few months of living in Wisconsin and then people that I may have just met last week. I am well aware of the fact that many people would look at our little county Fair and think of it as boring or just crazy. But I look at it so different than that. I can't imagine raising my kids anywhere else. I look around at all these people and they represent so much of my life. As I walk along it is a week full of memories and I just LOVE that.

Our fair is not Grand. There are no Roller Coasters or Big Name Entertainers. It is just a Simple County Fair. But there is so much to be said about "Simplicity". For us it is a week just to stop and enjoy people. To be able to reconnect and relax. I know the word Relax seems like the wrong word to use when you think about the fair but it is a different kind of busy. And I am so looking forward to it this week.

Today I dream for you the ability to find joy in your busyness. So many times we get so involved in what we are doing we forget to look around and we miss the experience. Make a new friend, reconnect with an old one. Enjoy the simple things.