It’s mid-July folks, the time all 4H moms anticipate with fear and trembling. It’s time for the County fair.
For those of you who are uninitiated into the workings of 4H, let me describe it like this: imagine that all of your children have all of their school projects due on the same day and at the same time.
I have four children in 4H this year, and our family rule is at least 3 projects. My brain has been functioning a little like this…
“Need to fix the printer to print off the last… has Dagmar started her bread?…where is Angel Girls entry tags…I still need the printer…Pedro has to start… is the varnish dry?…write-ups…I forgot the laundry…are we out of flour?… Matt needs to mount his picture…where is the label maker?…mint flavoring…Class 521 A or is it B…the printer…oh no! I forgot about supper!”
One project in particular has given me grief. Pedro refinished an old oak footstool and looked to me for help to upholster the top. I’ve done things like this in the past, years ago before children, when I had complete thoughts and working brain cells.
Somehow we muddled through and everything worked out. But I learned an important lesson, “Just because it looks easy on HGTV, doesn’t mean you can do at late at night, just before the project is due.”
It’s time to heat up some lunch, pack up the projects and head to the 4H building. That’s where I’ll spend the rest of this warm summer afternoon with other 4H moms just like me, dazed, brain dead, and much too tired to have an intelligent conversation.
Now if I can just remember who I am and which children are mine…
Pat
April 22, 2009 | 8:03 pm1
You deserve the Mom of the Year award!! You are so committed and faithful! I admire you for that. So once you have accepted your “award” I also wish all your kids much success at the fair! You guys done good!
There’s nothing like the nostalgia of “The Fair” in the United States. It paints pictures of neighborly fun and bonding. The rest of us can live vicariously through our American friends.