Derby Day

I am writing this on Saturday morning. It is an exciting day for, you see, today is Pinewood Derby Day! My son Sage is a Cub Scout and Alan is his den leader. Every year in January, Cub Scouts everywhere are given a block of wood, four nail and four wheels. From this block of wood they are expected plan, design, and make their own racing car. Parents of cubs are only supposed to give advice and help with any dangerous cutting. On Derby Day, we all gather and the pack races these cars down a wooden track to determine the ultimate winner.

So for two years, Sage has been the main designer and builder of his vehicle. And for two years he has never won jack! Zilch! Nada! Not even one heat. Two losses and he was out. However, I noticed as we stood by and watched the other boys go on to compete for the win, there were an awful lot of dads standing around talking about their car design, where they distributed their weight and how they got their wheels to run so smoothly. Seems the dads are the ones competing, hmmmmm.

This year I told Alan, "I want Sage to win at least one race this year. So YOU make the car, leave him out of it. Oh, maybe he could paint it or something, but you do it. He has got to win!!" Alan worked very hard for 3 days on the car. Sage painted it in a camouflage pattern and named the car--The Camo Commando!! So, full of hope and anticipation, we are leaving for the race very soon. I will write the rest of this post later with the results. Cross your fingers!

THE RESULTS

Well, it's a good thing that Alan is pretty because he cannot build a damn derby car. Yes, Camo Commando went down in flames, just like Sage's previous cars--Pod Racer and Turbo Python. It didn't even win once. Sage was a good sport but in private told me, "This is stupid!" I agree, it is stupid. Stupid, stupid!! Beside they can do other things very well. Sage can climb a tree like he was born in a jungle and Alan can cook a steak to a perfect medium rare (honestly, it will make you cry in happiness it tastes so good.) So there are more important things that silly wooden racing cars.

The rest of the day was kind of a nightmare too. We came home to find that the cat had thrown up all over our hallway carpet. I had to leave Alan with that mess while I took Shepard to a birthday party. I am not sure who had the rawest deal--Alan, who spent the afternoon cleaning up cat puke or me, stuck in Chuck E. Cheese on a Saturday in the midst of eight birthday parties. It's a toss up.

Hopefully we can salvage the day. The kids are at grandma's for the night and Alan and I are going to dinner and spending the evening alone. He might even get lucky, if he doesn't piss me off. Ha!