Pine Wood Blurb(ee)

There they sat, at least 20-30 of them.  At the start, each had a look of great anticipation, eager to see how their car would do against the rest.  As time went on, one by one, their faces drooped and the realization of an unsuccessful car entered their minds.  At one point, one child ran out balling.  Yes, this was Big D's grandchild.  After race number two he approached his father with a suggestion as to why it was not working as they had planned.  It was a well thought out alternative but the rule was no more adjusting once the cars were racing.  They had to go on and as they did the tears ran down the cheeks faster than his car on the track.  But, a possible lesson learned.  "Dad" he said with emotion, "I should have worked harder on my car."  He was probably right.  Dad felt bad, however, because he did not possess the engineering talents of grandpa Big D.  Why did I not get an engineering degree?  I could have still pursued medicine but also had some other skills under my belt.  Why Spanish degree?  It is not like I use those skills every, Oh, wait a minute, I do use those skills on a day by day basis.

Well, in the end, this particular Big D grandson has raced I think 3 or 4 times and won the entire race in 2009 Northern California.  What was the success?; less scouts, less fathers with PhD's in engineering and a car hand crafted by Big D.  I would have to say that Big D has won the entire pine wood derby at least a dozen times.  I can still remember when my car won as a child.

The famous Woodward car was the one to beat.  His dad was an auto mechanic and always produced a winner.  It had been nine years since my father had worked on a car and so the process was slow and methodical.  However, Big Bird, as we called the yellow car, won by a landslide.  Later on, Big D helped me make a car for a no-rules pine wood derby that shot a projectile at it's opponent while racing down the track.  It was so clever and got a huge laugh.

Well, now we put away the pine wood derby thoughts and plans for 3 years.  Little C will be our next competitor.  Hopefully we will learn some skills that stick from Big D to bring home another trophy.  A trophy in this neck of the woods would be quite the accomplishment.

An update on Big D's surgery.  It went well!  He is post op day one and already on his feet probably not by his choice however.  I love that about medicine these days, we get people recovered quicker and it puts them at less of risk for hospital acquired infections, bed ulcers, blood clots, etc.  This recovery will be tough on Big D as he has had minimal exercise throughout his life.  He did ask, as is classic for him before an operation, if would be able to play the cello after the surgery.  The physician replied that he could not see why not.  Dad followed, "that's great because I have never been able to play before!"
Borks