What It's All About

Almost nine years ago, I gave birth to a son after carrying him with a torn pelvic ligament for nine months.  We have fed him and taught him and kept him fit and healthy in mind, body and spirit until such a time as he could enter...THE PINEWOOD DERBY!

If you've been a "Friend of Scouting" or searched Pinewood Derby on You Tube, you know what a big deal it is.  There is a whole industry of men who build cars, then vet them in dozens of races, proving how fast they are.  They can then sell these cars for high prices to the most competitive and/or lazy fathers out there.  They can ship in as little as 18 hours, just in case you forgot the Pinewood Derby was tomorrow.  We didn't, so Freestone was prepared.  Still, I was a little baffled as Scott and Free began preparations as to why guys don't just grab a car from an older sibling or a neighbor.  Wouldn't that be more efficient?

I started to get excited about the Derby when Scott and Free came back from Grandpa's woodshop with the little box scroll-sawed into a really cool car shape, with the trimmings in the shape of a smaller car to placate Ptolemy who thought he needed one too.  Amid loud complaints from Ari and the others about why BOYS get to do all the cool stuff and GIRLS have to sit around and do variations of scrapbooking, the boys got to work.  Each night they did another step.  I even got to use my violin making tools to carve a spot in which to inlay the weights.  It was fun!  I wanted to build more cars!

The night before the Derby, Free and Scott applied the final decals and the tiny marvel of engineering was complete.  We spent the night studying tapes of races on You Tube.