Fair Grounds
Ever since I can remember my grandmother would take me and my sister to the fair.
Those rainbow rides rolled into Henry County once a year.
My grandfather would volunteer to work it,
And my grandmother would walk us around the grounds.
I loved the fair.
One year I got in trouble at school,
And I couldn’t go to the fair as punishment.
I cried all afternoon.
My grandmother felt guilty, but my parents were firm.
Life was unfair for her that day, I thought it was for me too.
The fair was our time.
Haley and I would ride everything: the ferris wheel, spinning dragons, gravity.
If we were tall enough, it was fair game.
The year I was big enough to ride the Fireball
I noticed a few things
I love thrill rides,
And that the fair was getting smaller.
Or I was getting bigger.
As middle school continued, I wanted to be with my friends.
Go to the fair with them
No- I wanted to go to Six Flags with them;
That was more my speed.
Fairs were for little kids and grandmothers.
I wanted friends.
When I got to high school, my grandmother asked me if I wanted to go to the fair.
I did not;
Those rides made me nauseous now.
I drove to her house instead.
I loved the fair once,
But my grandmother, I loved her always.