Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

Denise Rosenau Column, 2/18/02



What a great time we had at the Lester Prairie Cub Scout
Pinewood Derby a couple weeks ago. The boys did a great job creating their
cars. I had no idea how much planning and figuring goes into cutting a chunk
of wood into a car shape.

My husband, Gregg, and son, Mitch, worked hard to perfect
that car. They planned, cut, sanded, painted, weighed, and performed all
of the other detailed tasks to make it just right. It took days to make
it resemble the final product, which looked amazingly like the picture that
they planned from.

Finally the day came to race, and my son was so excited
that he had his Cub Scout shirt on hours before it was time to go. My husband
was equally excited, but, luckily, more subtle about it.

As it turned out, my son’s car didn’t end up placing in
the race, although he did pretty well, considering that it was his first
time out. He was very happy about the certificate for “Most Aerodynamic
Car” and ribbon that he got. We will be framing it and hanging it
on his bedroom wall soon.

I was proud that my son really didn’t care much if he won
or not, and he wasn’t any more disappointed when he placed fourth in one
of the races than he was when he placed first. He was into the fun of it
more than the competition.

My husband had his own little side-competition going with
his friend, Wayne, though, who is the father of Dalton, a Tiger Scout. I
heard from his mouth as Mitch and Dalton’s cars were racing each other,
“You’re goin’ down, man.”

He did take it gracefully when Dalton’s car beat Mitch’s
car . . . both times. And Wayne was just as graceful by not rubbing it in.

The thrill of competition ­ it was great! I had to
wonder, though, was it competition for the boys . . . or the dads?

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