Last year, we came in dead last -- 11th out of 11. We chalked it up to being novices -- to not knowing anything about building a pinewood derby car. Ashton remembers having a neighbor make his as his parents said there was no way they'd help him make one. I remember my brother Kirk making one with my parents, but as to tips or tricks that would help our family, I had none.
So Tuesday night came, and we all piled into the car to take Jacob's car to the church to be weighed in. Joshua and Annikah and I went to the gym aka cultural hall to play and run around while Ashton and Jacob went to weigh the car. It weighed 2.6 ounces. It was supposed to weight 5.0 ounces. That was when everything started going south.
Ashton brought some coins from home and some scotch tape, just in case the car didn't weigh enough. After taping two dollars in coins to the car, it still didn't weigh enough. Ashton was getting really frustrated and I wasn't helping at all. I told him that he couldn't tape the coins to the top of the car because it looked ridiculous. Oh, for a supportive, quiet wife.
Annikah has taken up coaching me when I get upset. She went into this supportive, coaching mode, as we drove home from the church. "Mom," she said from the backseat, "take a deep breath." "Calm down." "That's better." It does work, I do calm down. Thank goodness for special ed teachers who are teaching my child to be calm, and in turn, her mother.
We ended up coming home to look for heavier coins and more tape. It was late, and the little kids were getting cranky, so while Ashton and Jacob tried to put more weight on the car, I showered the little kids and put them to bed.
The next idea for increasing the car's weight was to build a big lego seat for the driver. I thought this was a good idea and it looked really cool. Then we all remembered losing so pitifully last year, and wondered if it had to do with last year's car being the opposite of aerodynamic. So we scrapped the lego idea and I went to Ace Hardware to see if they had an weights we could use for the car.
Once there, I spoke with a lovely young man who offered me fishing lead. I bought it. Six dollars later, I came home. I gave Ashton and Jacob the lead, a pair of pliers to cut it, and the hot glue gun and sent them off to the church to re-weigh.
The boys came home a half an hour later. Jacob said that the car didn't look very good, but that it weighed enough. I was encouraged that maybe, just maybe, this would be our year.
Nope. We came in last, again. But this year, we were combined with another ward, so we were 18th out of 18. To add insult to injury, all three other boys his age from our ward came in in the top five. Ouch.
They gave Jacob an award that said, "Best Gas Mileage." Are you kidding me? Even my nine year old was smart enough to know that that was a nice way of saying, "You're last kid." Oh my.
We stopped by Jack in the Box for some chocolate shakes and came home to drown our sorrows.
I wonder why we're so bad at things so often. Isn't it bad enough that Jacob has two handicapped siblings that make life very difficult? Couldn't he have just a little success? I'm wondering what the Lord is trying to teach us. I told Jacob that we are supposed to learn that winning isn't everything. I also told him I was proud that he wasn't a sore loser.
He still asked if he could throw his car away. I said sure.
