County Fair

Last week my grandson and I went to the county fair. We rode the carnival rides, played some games of chance, ate meat on a stick, and wondered through some of the barns to admire the different animals. It was a fun end of summer thing to do. He fell asleep on the way home and my mind wondered back to another day at a county fair.

It was August 1959. I was eighteen years old, a new high school graduate planning to start nursing school in the fall. I was dressed and waiting for my date to pick me up and take me to the Los Angeles County fair. I was a little nervous because this was a blind date that had been set up by my mother and my date’s mother. They taught school together and thought we should meet. He arrived and I was relieved that he was not ugly. He was six feet tall and had a cute little nose. At the fair we wandered through several of the exhibition tents. The only exhibit I actually remember was a vacuum cleaner display that sucked up metal balls and then shot them out in an elaborate track of turns and drops. I don’t know why that vacuum cleaner made such an impression. Later we rode on several carnival rides. I noticed his collar was folded funny and reached over and straightened his collar. After going through a fun house I felt a little wobbly and he reach over and took my hand to steady me.

Forty-eight years later I am still trying to straighten his collar and he still taking my hand when I feel wobbly.