Sam's Pine Wood Derby

I am from a family of all girls. This Boy Scout thing is all new to me. We got a flyer about a month ago announcing that this months pack night would be the Pine Wood Derby. Sam and Bryon have spent this past month working hard on his car. They went down to Idaho Falls on a Saturday and had Grandpa Joe help them sand down their car. Then Bryon and Sam have been working hard on getting the weights just right, painting the car and adding the wheels. I must say the perfectionist in me couldn’t help but offer to help him get the gold detail on his car just right. Sam informed me, to leave his car alone. He told me I had my chance to make a car in Girl Scouts. So yes, Bryon has put in a great deal of time helping Sam but a majority of the work has been Sam. So tonight was the big Pine Wood Derby. We had talked over and over with Sam about the important thing about the Pine Wood Derby is how much time he and his dad have spent working on this car together and it isn’t all about winning. I have to admit when it all boiled down to it, how exactly Sam would act should his car not be the fastest. Being the humble mother that I am, I was just sure that I wouldn’t have to worry about it because Sam’s car would no doubt be the fastest car there! When we got there, the track was all set up and ready to go. The Scouts were very anxious to see how their cars would perform on the track. Many of them were taking advantage of racing their cars down the track just to see how their car would do. Sam was a little hesitant. With some gentle encouraging, Sam stepped up to the track and set his car ready to race. Like Bryon said the important thing is, his car made it down the track. It wasn’t nearly as fast as I had envisioned it would be. Once pack night began, they had three different stations for the boys to attend to hopefully take their minds off “the official racing”. After seeing that Sam’s car wasn’t the fastest one there, I was really worried about how we would react once the real racing began and his car wasn’t winning. It was soon time for Sam to race his car. He didn’t win. After the race Sam made a point to come over to me and let me know that it was okay he didn’t win, he was having a great time. Sam raced his car all night long. It didn’t win once. Not once did Sam complain about losing. As we were leaving the church and Sam and I were together, he commented about how he didn’t win once all night long but that didn’t matter. So tonight I just want Sam to know how happy he made me about being such a good sport. You are right. Sam, you didn’t win a single race. You won where it mattered much more. You had a winning attitude and that is so much more important than winning any race.