By all means, be yourself.

I love kids.  I love their wit, their humor, their capacity to learn…their sweetness, their cuteness.  I just love them. Now, add to that mix the fact that they may be related to me in some way, well, it doubles or triples or to infinity and beyond.

I am always impressed by a kid’s determination, their unabashed bravery to tackle something they have never done, and may not have even seen, let alone have a frame of reference to be either confident, or afraid.  They just nod their heads, get a look in their eye and go for it.

 

Would that I could.  I have entered a phase of life where I am more timid than I use to be, more aware that things could go wrong or that I could wind up with a broken hip…yes, that’s right, a broken hip.  I heard a joke years ago, a single woman, a comedian, that went something like “Every time I go home for a visit, my elderly aunt asks when I am going to get married and start a family.  I just want to reply ‘I don’t know…when are you going to fall and break a hip?”

 

So, now that I am that elderly aunt, I try not to ask that question of my nieces and nephews but I have to admit I have probably done so, in maybe a not so direct fashion.  I do fear falling and breaking a hip these days and I admit to taking stairs much differently than I did even ten years ago.  They frighten me.

This past weekend my 7-year old granddaughter participated in an “apple cart” derby.  It was incredible.  First, the volunteer fire department of this small town in central Indiana sponsors the event.  They block the highway – yes, they close the highway, or main street, for about two hours.  They line both sides of the street with fire hoses let out the back end of the truck, charged with water, like bumpers in a bowling alley.  The little people race down this pretty significant incline from a bridge, starting somewhere near the middle, from a chute.  Racing down the highway in a wooden box, with a small crowd of townsfolk and others cheering from the sidewalk.  See what I mean? Incredible.

For my little granddaughter it was an extra thrill as grandpa on dad's side is a volunteer firefighter in this little town.  He has been waiting for her to turn 7 so she could participate.  They built her car, picked out the color for paint (pink, of course) and her uncle, who is also a tattoo artist, designed and painted a super great logo and her name blazoned across the front.   They had some practice runs down a smaller hill in town and they were ready.  We were all ready.

 

The moment of the race upon us, we paced back and forth while my princess stood on the sidewalk, pink helmet in place, and her flowered dress…yes, she races in a dress, people, announcing that she was “going to be myself”…mary janes and anklets.  She looks freakin’ adorable.  She is absent mindedly fiddling with her fingers…a habit she has had since infancy, while they move the cars to the top of the hill and set out the chute.  She squints her gaze up the hill ~ I am not sure she has seen the chute before this, so she’s curious, and calculating.

  

Grandpa is already at the top of the hill, proud uncle escorts her to her position and dad and mom take their places, cameras in hand.  There are 11 cars, double elimination.  She loses her first race, wins the second and loses the third.  She is undaunted, skips to her fan section to accept their hugs and high fives, shows only a moment of disappointment and watches the rest of the field, and their one by one elimination. The field is narrowed down to the driver who has won the last five years and wins again this year, HER last, and a smart looking lad in a fancy car, who ends up in second place.  An award is given to the most “true” to the apple cart definition, which really did look much like an apple cart.  There is discussion about modifications to the pink race car so that it might participate again next year.  There is also discussion about a pop up tent, food and lemonade for those of us pacing the sidewalk.

I drove home proud of that little community and the day, proud of the girl and impressed by her courage.  Get in a box on wheels and careen down a hill, like you know what you are doing and do it in a dress.  Seriously.  How great is that?