Joshua's First Pinewood Derby
O.K., before this week is over, I better document Joshua's first pinewood derby! I don't have the greatest pictures of this one... but I'm throwing them in anyway! I was proud of Scott for staying up late several nights to make it happen, especially when he was doing it for the first time as well, and handymanning is not his forte. I wanted to help with the painting, and unfortunately that got pushed until Saturday morning, the day of the race. I ran to harvest at the ward garden in the morning, and when I got home to help Josh finish the painting, I realized that Scott had already put the wheels on, and that we couldn't paint our design exactly right because the wheels were in the way. Anyway, long story short... I asked Scott if he could take the wheels off, he said that it would compromise the stability of the car, I complained and whined, mainly just frustrated and irritated by the whole thing, but then he reacted to that by prying one of the wheels off, splitting a small part of the wood underneath the car, and I went totally ballistic! I completely lost it, and started screaming out of control... something about this stupid stupid car, that I never wanted him to take the wheels off if it would break the car, that I can't believe he would over-react to my whining by compromising the car, that I didn't even want to go to the stinkin' derby, yes, that's it, I'm just not going, that why do they want these boys to do something that puts all kinds of pressure on the parents to produce this...
Oooohhhh... it was ugly. What a wonderful scouting tradition, the pinewood derby! Well, after Scott and I had to separate for a few hours, and after a lengthy texted (and then later in person) apology on my part, we finished the car, and all went to the church, and he performed respectably. He won one race, was 2nd place in two, and third in one. Not bad considering all of my doom and gloom in the morning. I even set Josh up with the famous... "you-may-lose-every-single-race-and-it-doesn't-matter" talk. Good grief! My drama, drama, drama! Hopefully things will be better next year...
3 comments:
Isn't it a strange world that we live in when a small block of wood, a couple of nails, and a few plastic wheels can cause so many hard feelings and so much stress? You've got to love tradition.
Love the car, by the way. Congrats to Josh.
I thought the flames behind your slideshow were also very appropriate for the flaming emotions that the race can bring.
Having only one boy may sound like a blessing in this case :) Next year will be easier!
Enjoy the derby memories! The car turned out great! I think it's funny that there are certain ways to make the car, but you can break part of it and still do well!
It's not the same for the Raingutter Regatta though. Call me when you built your boat. I put the rutter on backwards once and it was a complete disaster!! Love scouting!!!
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