Carnival Duty

Something you probably didn't know about me is that for 4 days every year since I was born I've been a carny worker. My dad is a Lion's Club member. This year was the 75th annual Rolla Lion's Club Carnival. It's one of the old timey carnivals where the whole town comes out and plays games and rides the same rides every year. Every year we wonder what rock some of the people crawl out from under because you never see them any other time of year, but they have plenty of cash to spend on worthless prizes.

The two most important holidays in our family are therefore July 4th and Thanksgiving (this is when the entire Lenox clan comes together). You can miss Christmas and Easter but don't even think about missing Carnival Duty. This is the only time that my Mike proves his worth to my father. He works a good 15 hours each year in our current stand the steak sandwich booth. He cut onions, made sandwiches and handed out sodas like a pro. He may not be able to work cattle but he can make a damn fine steak sandwich.

The girls enjoy working my uncle's nice safe stand. Unlikely the cat doll stand that we worked from the time we could walk to when we were pimped out to the old drunk players who would keep handing us their hundreds when we were in our teens. I went to see the new cat doll stand and I think I totally insulted the worker's manhood. I told them how when I was 3 years old they would have us out there picking up the real baseballs, dodging the men throwing them at us at 50 mph. They have little nerf balls now and sticks to pick them up with so they don't even have to bend over. Total wussies.
The top shot is me with my sisters, none of whom worked as many hours as I did this year. I made change without a calculator or cash register for several hours straight every night. It was the only job I could do sitting down but I didn't complain. This is my Mom. I can't remember ever showing a picture of her. She was the keeper of the stuffed animals. I don't think she put many hours in this year but she has definitely served her time through the years.