Pinewood Derby Day

Today was Pinewood Derby day for Noah's cub scout troop, very exciting. He has been looking forward to this day since he signed up for Scouts in the fall. He and Peter worked together to build his car, Noah worked very hard on the project. Stayed up late last night with Peter in the workshop putting on the finishing touches to get ready. The races were held this morning at our elementary school and I am so proud to announce that it was a success.

I think 60 or so boys participated, maybe more. No, we didn't win, I don't mean that kind of success. Noah's car did place third in his pac, he was very excited about that. He then, however, went on to compete against much older boys and came in last- many times. Noah cared a lot about this event, and he participated beautifully throughout. Not perfectly, but that's never what we look for in a person. He tried his best. He (mostly) held himself together when his car lost, over and over again. He congratulated his friend when his car won, over and over again. That's not easy for many adults to do, let alone a first grader.

He is learning, brick by brick, through metaphorical sweat and tears, how to do things that are hard, and how to enjoy them. How to be a good sport, how to be proud of trying your hardest even when you can't measure it by being better than everyone. How to rise above your envy, impatience, over stimulation, and disappointment and just enjoy the experience. This takes a huge amount of discipline and practice and I am so proud of his accomplishment. Way to go, buddy!