This press box might be one of the biggest and newest building in this town.
For our second track meet, we drove to a small town in Nebraska. I know you're thinking, "Wow, Les, you were all 'we're not gonna push sports on the kids...blah blah blah' and here you are driving them all over Nebraska." Uh, good point. And it's a nice small meet in the middle of nowhere which means the kids have a good chance at winning medals and ribbons. We're taking our big fish to a small pond for a little taste of success.
We packed up all the coolers and water jugs and bottles and drove in the rain wondering if there was even a track meet to drive to but under the impression that it was at the very least, worth the road trip and all. I thought back to all the times my Dad drove me all over Texas to countless volleyball tournaments. Truth be told, I don't think he even liked volleyball. He would change his mind later on when his daughter finally stopped struggling with it and found my own place. But for a long time, I'm sure he was wishing it was basketball tournaments. Still, he drove me to every tournament and sat and watched. Then he'd go get me lunch. Then he'd sit and watch some more. And then he would drive me back home. I thought I was pretty grateful to the guy. But now that he's gone and now that I'm doing this as a parent, I appreciate him way more. And I understand why he did it. Its simply fun to get away with your busy kids, busy life. Hang out with them all day. Cheer them on for 20 seconds. And hi five them. The snacks are great too.
When we got there, it was still raining. I packed all that food, the chairs and the water bottles, but forgot umbrellas. With no end of the rain in sight, and no where to take cover, I figured I'd just run and get a couple of umbrellas. I asked around where to go - to a Walgreens or a Walmart. I mean surely if there is a high school track - there's a Walmart, right? But the best the ticket taker could point me to was Petes Pharmacy. If you just go up the street to the second intersection its the third building on the right. Because there's no lights which is what I would consider an intersection to be. Its just street crossings.
I just drove slowly, looked around and found it. It took me a while to parallel park the minivan. I'm guessing Pete and all of his Pharmacy watched and mumbled, "Stupid City Folk." Which is fine because I wasn't impressed with their small town-ness either. Pete's got an empire in this town. Apparently, it's not just a pharmacy, but you can get toilet paper, and Sharpies, notebook paper, sweatshirts, hats and tshirts there as well. However, it's like you've walked through a time machine back to maybe 1950 when you go in there. There was a combination smell of moth balls and a very old and abandoned farmhouse. Abandoned, perhaps of the smell.
I searched and searched for an umbrella. Did they have umbrellas in the 50s? I dunno. It turns out no. But the nice lady - also from the 50s - helped me find rain ponchos. She even let me have one free. Hey! It's buy 3, get the 4th free! Thank you! I paid the $3 and walked back out to my car and 2010 only to find clear skies and no rain in sight.
I'm grateful for the kind woman and the super deal on rain ponchos. But I just can't shake how weird that store was.
I unparallel parked and went back to the kids and got our camp set up. Ricardo asked me how my trip was.
"Uh, I don't think I could handle living in a small town. Ever. And the 1950s smell weird to me. I'm just sayin."
He looked at me for a moment, mentally translated, understood. And then simply agreed, we'll never live in the 1950s. Time to watch some races.
That's how I roll.
Song of the Day: Ya Ya - Lee Dorsey
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