It's official. We have a Cub Scout in the family. Welcome to the world of merit badges, pack meetings, and scout camp. Oh yes, and the competitive Pinewood Derby.
This was our very first activity with our local scout pack (or do you call it a den?).
Matthew worked for days on his car design and was so proud of the results.
He lovingly carried his car to the check-in station before the race. The race official directed us to glue the car weights on more securely before entering the race. After carefully applying glue and waiting for it to dry, something terrible (but totally foreseeable) happened.
I glued my thumb to his car. With superglue.
I'm not talking about a teeny patch of skin being stuck to a corner of the car.
My entire thumb was irretrievably cemented to his car. When I shook my hand vigorously to loosen the glue, the car just dangled from my thumb and flapped about helplessly.
The race was due to begin in five minutes! There was no way he could send his car down the track with me in tow. (Admittedly, it would be pretty comical.)
I pulled and tugged repeatedly at the little car, but this glue was serious about doing its job. It wasn't letting go of my skin at all. After this abuse my skin was beginning to surrender and rip. What was I going to do?
People began to notice my awkward new fashion accessory and offer helpful suggestions.
I tried scraping my fingernail between my skin and the car. No good.
I tried running it under hot water. No good.
We tried rubbing it with caustic acetones. No good.
One father pulled out a box-cutter and offered to let me try using that...I had visions of blood running down my hand as I politely declined his offer.
I felt like a terrible mother even though I was laughing at the situation.
It was funny.
When I was almost ready to try the box cutter, somehow the car just popped off my thumb.
I don't know quite how it happened (maybe all the pulling, tugging, scraping, and soaking had a cumulative effect). The paint ripped off and stayed on my thumb (the paint happened to be bright red, so it looked like I used the box cutter after all).
I rushed back into the race arena and entered his car just in time.
He had a great time watching the races and cheering for his friends.
He won half of his races, placing him solidly in the middle of the ranks.
The car now sits on Matthew's book shelf, next to his favorite possessions (which include a rock tumbler, a snake skin, photos, and books).
It is still missing a patch of red paint on one side...I cringe every time I see it. Then I angle the car so it's 'bald spot' faces the wall.
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| Matthew catches his winning car at the end of the track. |
1 comment:
They usually do the derby with the whole pack. the den is just the 'classes' they do, like the wolf den, bear den and webelos den. I am a wolf leader, and I do stuff like this all the time. The boys think it's funny, and so long as I keep laughing about my own mistakes, it helps them learn to roll with life's punches rather than getting angry at them. See, you were just doing your job at being a good example! See?
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