County Fair: Then & Now

This past weekend was wonderful. Bruce and I took Alyssa to the County Fair. She is still so little, so she couldn't go on any rides other than the carousel, but she loved it all. She was people watching, looking at all the big rides and saying "Oooh, abba robi molla", which I have no clue as to what she meant, but she sure was excited! We ate funnel cakes, cotton candy, chicken on a stick, and BBQ sandwiches. Alyssa wanted nothing to do with the cotton candy. I skipped dinner that night, but my scale was still pissed at me the next morning. Up two pounds... I swear I'm about to consider cocaine to get this last 15 pounds off. ONLY KIDDING! Just making sure you're paying attention.

NO! Get that crap away from me! I don't care how good you say it is!

  

Carousel with Daddy

 It was a beautiful day here on Saturday, too. As we walked around enjoying the sunshine and sights, it made me think of going to the fair when I was a little kid. The only person I really remember going with was my big sister. Being ten years older, she took me to do A LOT of things. One night, when I was about six, she took me to the fair and we rode a ride that made us wonder if we were going to get off alive. I kid you not. It was this metal cage where I had to sit in front of her and the "door", which was on our left side, slid shut. Well, it didn't slide shut. Oh, it slid, but it didn't catch. This ride would slowly start to glide back and forth until it reached the top of the circle and rotated all the way over. We were the only ones on this ride, and when it started going we reached a 90 degree angle from the ground and the door slid open. We both started screaming, my sister was yelling, repeatedly, at the guy to stop the ride, but he thought we were just screaming for "fun". (There's no way he couldn't know... therefore, I've already reserved a special place in hell for him). The ride continued on. Gliding higher and higher. The door was trying to slide open each time we reached a certain height. I was terrified. But, she held that door shut, told me it was going to be fine, and held me tight. I knew she was lying, but I appreciated it. The ride finally stopped and we got off in one piece. My sister's wrist was so jacked-up by that time. It was swelling and simply did not look good. We had to find a first aid station where they wrapped it. Mind you, this was 30 years ago (OMG... that makes me feel OLD), so they didn't have the PR concerns they do today. I could only imagine if something like that were caught on cell phone video today! But that was then, and this is now, and thank god they take more precautions these days.

Saturday will be one of those days that I think back on when I'm having a bad day. The memories we made are sure to help me get through anything!