Horse Race or Horse Ride?

Yes, it Montana Fair time.

This is the time of the season for me to watch my kids on the fair rides, throw small plastic rings on pop bottles and throw a dull dart at an underinflated balloon to win a sponge square larry pants. Of course, all of my kids are grown for the most part.  My best memory was of my daughter who has graduated from college and gets married at the end of the month.

When she was 5 or 6 years old, I put her on a horse at the kiddie part of the fairgrounds.  The ponies are hooked up to a "merry-go-round" and the parents watch the kids go round in circles for about 10 minutes. In my head, this picture above is what was going through my head. "Here comes Shayna pulling up from the back to win the big race".

In reality, she was on the horses that just walk around in circles.  It's late at night at the fair, she is tired, and before the first exciting lap was done, she was falling off the amazing horse called Norman, sleeping. Being a dad, I rushed to help in what seemed like slow motion to save her from her doom of falling on sawdust and then walked next to her that last 9 1/2 minutes. She slept through the whole night too, with our other kids, but the memory of her "racing" sticks with me.  Enjoy Montana Fair with family.