Down on the Farm

In early August, on a warm summer night in Holland, Michigan a Northern wind curled itself into my nostrils and let me know the Ottawa County Fair had officially arrived. Okay, well that's not totally true. I think the smell of cow dung just wafts permanently over some of the vast farmland in Western Michigan. It could've been the Ottawa County Fair though ... I can neither confirm, nor deny.

At any rate, I wanted to take Megan to a county fair. Ironically, unbeknownst to us, Jillian was pregnant with Megan when we attended the LaPorte (Ind.) County Fair with our friends, the Sampsons, and I assume she thoroughly enjoyed the fried foods Jillian consumed, but this was her first visit she could witness with her own two eyes.

Alas, our timing was terrible. The only day it worked in our schedule to take her was a Saturday morning on the last day the fair was in town. I didn't realize that would be a problem until we showed up and there were no pigs or sheep. Instead we made due with two barns of chickens, bunnies, cows, and two horses. And because it was the morning (we were literally the first people to set foot on the grounds that morning) there were no elephant ears consumed or any other fried foods, no rides run by carny dudes with tattoos on top of tattoos, corn-on-the-cob teeth, and feathered mullets, or blue ribbon winning pies. But what we lacked in true "Fair nostalgia" we made up with in enthusiasm.

Megan's favorite part of the whole morning was, no lie, sitting on top of a riding lawn mower; a tangible piece of advertising still parked outside one of the stalls. The animals, what we hoped she would go over-the-top on, she wasn't particularly fond of. She white-knuckled her way through both animal barns and steadfastly REFUSED to let go of either me or Jillian's dad. She had a death grip on the collars of our shirt, even for the chicken coop where the animals were in cages. It was so disappointing.

I understand from her point of view, seeing these animals live and up close, and not just in 2-D from her picture books, would freak anyone out. But I underestimated her general fear and apprehension at seeing these beasts. I think she was 'okay' at watching from a safe distance in my arms, which was fine, given her age but still ... you want your child to show some bravado and stare these animals down.

Well, she did outdo the animals in one regard. As we were leaving Megan made it clear she was capable of making the smelliest mess award. Too bad there weren't any blue ribbon judges for that contest.