County Fair is coming and memories flood my mind...
Fall's in the air and I'm thinking back when the county fair came to town each autumn. One fall morning I was assisting my physician husband with a physical examination of a "northern" newcomer to our southern small town.
My husband was the epitomy of a southern gentleman with a most pronounced southern drawl.
Being a compassionate doctor he did everything he could to help his patients relax during an examination.
He would try to distract their thinking by talking about community happenings. So he asked this patient if she was getting excited about the fair coming to town. 
She abruptly straightened up and said, "What fire?"
He was taken back and said in Southernese, "I didn't say anything about a fiiiire; I was talking about the faiiiiiireee coming to town."
Well, folks I tried to look professional, but as they bantered back and forth with fire and fair:(faiiiiiireee) I lost it. I couldn't keep from laughing and I bit my tongue and pinched myself, but the giggles came.
Both of them were ticked off at me. Finally she said to me, "Why in the world would he say fire, when he means fair?"
My husband gave me a look, like every wife knows well..."you better not make me look bad." I told her we southerners just talk with a bit more melody in our voices than people from other parts of the country. She huffed and of course her blood pressure shot up and we never really got her calmed down.
She left muttering "fire when you mean to say fair...I don't get it."
So when the air is cooler and autumn is near I laugh a bit thinking of the time when the faiiiiiireee...I mean, the fair came to town. I smell the cotton candy; I hear the squeals on the ferris wheel; and I hear the animals in the stalls.
Garrison Keillor said this about county fairs: "The State Fair is not a way of life, it's a reward for making it through summer. Sort of like ice cream is a reward for eating your broccoli."
It's Labor Day weekend and like the Keillor says, this is your reward for all your hard work and labor. Enjoy it!!...thank Our Father in Heaven for those you love and please laugh together. Life is such a gift...open it and delight in it!!!
4 comments:
That was fuuunnyy! I would have laughed along with you.
I love the fair - we try to take the kids every year - mostly for the sausage and elephant ears! Of course now-a-days you almost have to get a bank loan to hit everything. As a northerner transplanted into a southern state - I can certainly relate to the humor in your tale.
Have a great labor day weekend!!
Now that is too cute! I love it.
I always looked forward to the fair too.
Much love,
Angela
I just love this! My 4 year had a speech problem from ages 2-3, which is better with speech therapy, but everything she said we had to play the "what does this sound like game." I'm very good at it, and would have no doubt figured out it was the FAIR very quickly. Just loved this post, too funny.
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