Fair brings back memories

Mom flunked her test. She was supposed to go for a stress test last week but when they were taking the baseline measurements her heart decided to go into atrial fibrillation and they stopped the test before it even got started.
 So now she is hooked up to a monitor that she wears on her waist or around her neck. She will wear this for the next three weeks. This is to tell the docs if her irregular heartbeat happens all the time or just at the doctor’s office.
 When they get the results they will decide if they are going to put her on yet another drug or what else needs to be done. At least she is home now.
 So even though the immediate danger is over I am still in chronic worry mode.
I hope to take a mini-vacation from the worry by attending the county fair this week. I love fairs. I like the smells of the animal barns (not so odd for someone who grew up on a farm and now lives in town). I always try to touch the animals even though I probably shouldn't. It is like touching my past. I love the crowds filled with familiar faces. I love the sounds and the bright lights of the rides and the memories they evoke. I like watching the swarthy guys hawking games that young men play to try to impress their dates.
 Everybody comes out for the fair. Ordinary people mingle with the movers and shakers of the town. Vendors still give away paper fans like they did when I was a kid. It will (finally) pour down rain at least once during the week as it does almost every year.
 It has been years since I have been on a ride at the fair but I remember the feel of my girlfriend squashing me as we rode on the Scrambler or the Tilt-O-Whirl. I remember being young enough to be shy when a boy who wanted to be my boyfriend tried to hold my hand. I remember dozens of cheap trinkets won by my friends and me, although we were never good enough to win a stuffed animal.
 When I am walking around the fairgrounds I am transported back to a simpler time. I am with my mother and her girlfriend. They are both young and pretty. All three of us would hang over the fence and watch the sulky races before heading into the wooden grandstands to watch Joie Chitwood and his stunt car show. We marveled as the drivers drove cars on two wheels and did other tricks that we had only seen in movies. I remember a tremendous amount of dust that made it hard to breathe.
 This was followed by a horse show that was much calmer than the stunt cars. We shared lemonade and some airy cotton candy before taking the big yellow bus back home.
 I haven’t ridden on a bus in decades and doubt if I will get any cotton candy this year. There is nothing that tastes as good as over-priced fair lemonade on a hot day so I will probably indulge in some of that.
 I plan to escape for a while to a simpler time and place where everybody is friendly and entertainment doesn’t involve anything electronic. My husband and I will walk though the buildings where people display their talents at crocheting, knitting and other handicrafts. We will admire the baked goods and wonder how we can get to be one of the judges.
 Mostly I will calm down. We will chat with people we haven’t seen for awhile. We will enjoy all the fair has to offer and hope that it really does rain at least once. I hope to see you there.[[In-content Ad]]