The Country "Fare"

There's something terribly nostalgic about taking your kids back to your old stomping grounds...



That place where you first tasted independence... dashing around the grounds with your friends as evening fell and the carnival ride lights made everything glow hazy

They played the games and won the tokens and spent ages in the prize tent. 

And I tried so hard not to get antsy, watching them agonize over the 10-token balsa wood airplane or the 20-token pirate sword and eye patch; tried hard to remember that at their age, these are huge, evening-altering decisions...

 

I made them stand in front of the old football scoreboard...because I KNOW somewhere, there's a picture of me in that same exact spot...

We sat on hay bales and ate elephant ears...
And the place echoed with squeals from the high rides and you could smell carnival from a mile away... Roasted corn on the cob, heavy butter, cinnamon and sugar and elephant ears and tenderloins so large you have to eat them in concentric ring bites for minutes on end until the meat and the bun match up evenly. All those years of playing plinko and bean bag toss and winning goldfish and mirrored pictures from the balloon pop... there they all were, rushing back in a heartbeat as soon as I crossed the softball diamonds from Arbuckle Acres to get to the parking lot. It was as if nothing had changed...just for a heartbeat I was 12 again...then The Monkey tugged on my hand a pointed at the ferris wheel, and we were off...

We danced to the cover band as it got darker and darker...and the kids chased each other around and around and over and through rows of adults who didn't seem to mind holding their beers up and out of harms way because of the rampaging horde of toddlers coming through.

We rode rides and slides and tea cups (not me...I watched the tea cups this time thankyouverymuch)

And I commented on the conspicuous absence of "The Heart Ride"

And then I had to explain the signifigance of the heart ride.

Apparently, the thought of their mom being sweet on anybody at their age and wanting to ride carnival rides with a boy is hilarious...

It was a perfect evening... equal parts nostalgia and exhaustive fun... I don't know why I waited so long to take them.