Today was our fair day this year.  The hubs got off work, I had a free day, and our little one did not have school.  We were confident that a Monday would be slower and less crowded.  We were wrong.  It was so packed the who-knows-how-many-acres of parking inside the fair grounds were ALL completely full and it was just early afternoon.  So we did just what I remember doing as a kid:  Daddy parked the car on someone’s lawn and we prayed it would still be there by the time we got out.  When I asked if we needed a ticket the woman looked at me, cackled, and said, “Baby I AM your ticket!”  I winked and shot her a sideways grin as we made our way into the home of Big Tex, the icon of the Texas State Fair.  He is 55 feet tall, wears a size 96 boots and sports a 95 gallon hat.  Everything is bigger in Texas.  Of course we took our requisite picture with the big guy before I indulged in fried spinach balls with cream cheese (delicious) and beer.  The hubs got his traditional German bratwurst and only thing gluten free we could find for our little one was kettle corn.  It came in a bag so huge it quickly took her place in the stroller.  I proudly won a husky/wolf for my collection at a water gun shoot out (whomever fills the balloon first and it bursts wins) and then it was off to ride rides as the sun began to set.  Suddenly I was back in junior high with 80’s music blaring, lights whirling, and the underlying smell of Fletcher’s famous corny dogs.  My husband cannot ride because he gets motion sick.  So I found myself next to a middle school girl who got stuck riding with the lady she didn’t know.  But when we were in the air and I was screaming my lungs out she decided I was pretty cool.  The only difference was seeing my forty something feet swinging above my head in sandals instead of my fourteen year old ones in sneakers.  The famous French actress and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot said:

“A photograph can be an instant of life captured for eternity that will never cease looking back at you.”

I agree.  There are also some rare things and special places that, if unchanged, have the ability to transport us backward in time.  For me, I have an eternal feeling reemerge once a year beginning when I stand with my family of three, just as I did as a child, and I hear Big Tex say, “Howdy, Folks!”