Our First Pinewood Derby Experience...

I am going to apologize, because this post is a little long. But Wednesday was a long day (a good day, but a long day) and I don't want to leave anything out.

Zerin and Bryan have been looking forward to the Pinewood Derby for months. They plotted, they planned, they made not 1, not 2, but 3 prototypes before starting their actual car. They spent hours and hours and hours together in the shop designing, cutting, sanding, painting, and on and on and on. And when I say they, I really mean they. Bryan let Zerin do mostly everything other than the big saw...I was proud of HIM for not taking over :) When I get the camera fixed, I'll post a pic. It is a pretty sweet looking piece of work, I must say. They modeled it after the A-10 Thunderbolt Sharkface Plane from WWII. They made me paint the face on though. All I can say was I tried :)

So the night of the race came...Zerin had been asking every 10 minutes since he got home from school if it was time to go. Bryan hadn't been feeling well that day, but he lit up like a Christmas tree when it was time to go.

Let me back up...my friend Ami gave me a morning at the temple for my birthday, so I decided to go that morning while Liah was at school. As I got into the dressing room of the temple to change with 5 minutes to spare (hahaha!), my phone started ringing (I had forgotten to leave it in the car)...it was the school. I was almost late for the session, so I decided not to go check the message in the hopes that all was okay. I said a little prayer, and literally ran, and made it just in time to take 3 deep quiet breaths and then enter the session. The temple was wonderful and I was so so so glad I was able to go (THANK YOU AMI!!!), but when I got out to the van and checked my messages, Liah had thrown up at school, and so Grandma (with the help of her home teacher) went to the school to pick her up and bring her home. If I had checked the message at the temple, I know I wouldn't have been able to refrain from leaving to take care of her, so I was grateful for people willing/able to step in for me so I could go. It was exactly what I had been needing, and it gave me the extra umph I needed to make it through what would end up being a very interesting day.

That day was also birthday tables for Zerin at 11:30 during his lunch. So after calling to check in with Mom to make sure Liah was okay, I ran straight from the temple to the school where Zerin was waiting. We enjoyed lunch in the library together. Tangent....he lost his 5th tooth moments before I got to the school. For whatever reason, he put the tooth on his lunch tray while we were eating, and without thinking, tossed the whole thing in the garbage when he was finished. He realized what he had done seconds later and came to me with a look of total panic. I hesitated for only a moment, and then dug into the garbage to retrieve the tooth. After systematically sorting all (and I do mean all) the trash, I looked on the ground and found the tooth. I quickly put all the trash back, and ran to the bathroom to disinfect :) We then went out to the playground so I could watch him play in his daily kickball tournament. He made two outs, so he was pretty happy. I loved watching him in his element :) I have such a good boy. I made it home around 12:30, and then had to of course had to fill Bryan's mom in. Next thing I know, it's after 1, and her entire day was gone! Oops!

So that being said, we got to the night of the Derby, and a few minutes before we were going to leave, Liah threw up again. I was pretty bummed, because I had been looking forward to this almost as much as the guys. Zerin was going to be getting his bobcat on top of everything else, but I knew Zerin NEEDED Bryan there, so I offered to stay with the kids while he took Zerin & Aeden. Aren't I such a good wife ;)

About a half hour later, Bryan's mom came through the door and told me to go up to the derby while she watched the kids...again. What a sweetheart :) She stayed with the 3 kids (which ended up being a blog post experience in and of itself) so I could run up and see him race. Let's just say her night involved 2 screaming kids, dogs getting into garbage, and trying somewhat successfully to be two places at once :) I think the night earned her her angel wings, but I was so grateful!

Okay, so the race. It was pretty funny watching a lot of the dads getting so into it. Graphiting their cars, last minute look-overs...awesome :) We had spent a lot of timing telling Zerin that it wasn't about winning, and that the most important thing was having fun, and spending time with Dad, and all that good stuff, so we felt pretty good about any outcome. Well, after 4 races, Zerin placed dead last in every single race. He had the worst score of everyone there. Even his one friend, who had spent just a couple of days working on his car all by himself with no parental help, came in 3rd for one race. Needless to say, Zerin was devastated. I kept looking over at him, and he wouldn't look at me. He wasn't crying, he just had a straight face. If you know Zerin at all, you know what I knew. So during the final race of the tournament between the winners, I went and got him and we walked out in the hall. He asked if we could go in a room. I put my arm around him, and said, "Do you need to cry?" and he just started uncontrollably sobbing. It broke my heart. Between his muffled sobs, he told me he wasn't upset that he didn't win, it was that he knew how hard hard he and Bryan had worked on it, and that it wasn't fair he had spent so much time on their car, and he was very very last. He was afraid Bryan was disappointed (which maybe he was a little, but he never said) and that he wouldn't feel good enough to build another car like that again (I told him he would). Then we talked about how lucky he was that he got all of those memories of working with Daddy out in the shop, and that in 20 years, he may not remember that he came in dead last, but he will always remember how much fun he had making the A-10 Thunderbolt Sharkface Car with Dad. He smiled a little, gave me a huge hug, and then went back out with his friends. By the time we made it home, he was smiling, and happy, and had a picture drawn of next year's car.

I was so so so so proud of him, I can't even tell you. I have to admit, when the night started, I was hoping he wouldn't win, just to help him have a little humility (he can get a little self-inflated at times haha). When everything went down, I felt a little guilty for feeling that way. But by the end of the night, he had taught me yet another lesson on empathy. It just makes me want to hug and kiss his little gappy-toothed face to pieces :) I don't know why I am so blessed to have such an amazing little boy...