not so shining moment

so i mentioned yesterday that we were going to be at the derby races.
we won.
um, like the whole thing.
our 8 year old placed 1st overall.
the 10 year old took 2nd in his den.
we did not handle it well.
we meaning the mister and i.

let me set up the story with our experience last year:

last year the husband had just gotten home from afghanistan. shortly after getting home we had the derby races to go to.
he was super busy being places and doing things out of state that he couldn't pay attention to the car till the day before the races.

we lost every single race.
not one was won.
my husband was crushed.
the then 9 year old was in tears.
we had the talk that every parent has with their kid when their kid feels bad about being the last one picked or coming in last. "they are all just stupid and next year we'll show them" "it doesn't matter if you win one or all or none...what matters is that we tried, we learned, we'll do it again."

and so we did. we learned what would make a car fast. like putting all the weight in the back. making it close to the ground. getting the judges drunk.

yet we were still confident that we would once again lose every race, and we would have to have the "we gave it our best" talk again... times 2.

now fast forward one year later:

husband to the kids: "okay so what are we going to do when dad's your cars lose?
kids already been prepped with the answer: "tell the winners good job and do NOT cry."
(husband mouths the response with the kids and convinces himself to do just the same)
husband: "that's right. and what happens if we lose every race?"
kids already been prepped with the answer: "we go get ice cream! and NOT cry."
husband: "RIGHT! ready to do this thing?!"
kids: "YEAH!"

and so the night began just like last years. the weighing in... the anticipation.
the husband turns to me and says "my hearts racing. this is so stupid. why am i so nervous?"
and the races began.
the eight year old's car won the first race.
we were so proud we won one. but we were pretty sure that we had probably gone up against the poor first years parents(like ourselves last year) who never had to do this sort of thing before, and we passed it off as luck.
but it kept winning. and our smiles slowly turned to gaping wide open mouths stuck there to catch bugs.
then the 10 year old's heat started...he went against the kid who ALWAYS wins every single year(dad's an engineer who creates his own pattens for the car industry). we gave it a run for it's money...and came in a really close second every time.
we looked at each other (the husband and i) and we smiled and turned back to the race.

long story short. by the end of it we got cocky. and i even may have trashed talked a 9 year old competitor and he in return said "oh is that your car? that's a nice car." i felt a little bad about trash talking after he was so nice. that 9 year old may have also been the husband's boss's kid.

our kids? they took the race well. they smiled and received their awards with grace.
my husband and i on the other hand were dancing around like fools with big ol grins on our face.

moral of the story....we're kind of competitive.
good thing everyone around us knows us enough to know we're not normally winners (in most things)...so they were sort of forgiving of our social awkwardness.




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