Wise County Old Settlers Reunion

• The first thing I saw upon getting out of the car at the reunion 22 July 2008. My first thought- I'm 43 years old and the sight of the Ferris Wheel,the smell of cotton candy and the sound of generators powering up to sling the fast rides around still makes my hair stand on end and gets me pumped.

• The second thought-my daughter is six and my son is one and they've never been before-that will never happen again. If I have anything to do with it they won't miss again.

• One of the carnies told me he made a down payment on the ride he works and is buying it, I asked him how that works he said,"They take so much percentage out of my check". I think my leg was getting pulled. I'm writing about it here and he'll laugh at me with his carnie buddies later.

• Carnies and rubes- we all have our roles I suppose.

• That guy had gold teeth with diamonds set it in them and fangs over his canines. I thought his jaw was misshapen until I made him laugh.

• If a group of vampires got to together they could make a lot of money off a carnival and stay ahead of trouble by feasting hearty on the townies their last night and then moving on.

• One worker told me they did a show in Corpus Christie that drew in 44,000 people the first night. Do some math on that one-I spent 15 dollars and I'm a pathetic cheapskate.

• One female carnie told me she hated her job. I asked why she said,"All the drama,constant drama." She had been working there for 2 months.

• All of the car,boat and motorcycles in those rides look exactly the same as when I was a kid.

• One carnie marvelled that they did a show in a cow pasture the week before. He said,"They actually had to chase the cows out. There were cow pies still still laying around everywhere" I asked him how he like his job,how he got it etc. He said," I'll put it to you this way,my divorce has been final a while,my daughter is out on her own and taking good care of herself and I'm going to travel and let the world worry about all the problems. I'm gonna have a little fun. The rest of the world can handle all the problems. "

• Sounds good to me brother.

• He also wanted me to know,"I'm just a normal guy,you know? I have a house a car and a pickup back home for that matter. This is just a way for me to travel and let the world take care of it's own problems."

• I'm sold, where do I get an application?

• I saw an obviously profoundly mentally retarded woman with two small children. The girl was not obviously affected but the boy was-who marries people like this? Isn't that illegal? Part of the night she just staggered around crying, holding those dirty little kids hands.

• I saw at least 3 teenagers that nearly had to belong to people I knew back when.

• One girl I went to school with has a 26 year old daughter

• "Hey man,how are you?" I asked while answering the question myself in my head-"Obviously better than the last time I heard anything about you". He was involved in some sort of a multi agency stand-off- wish I was kidding. He looked good though, healthy looking, smiling and with clear, sane looking eyes. Those 3 things mean more than you might think. Good for him,I would have guessed him to be long dead. Good for him.

• It was funny to see people trying to figure out for sure who I was. One woman snuck a cel phone pic and then I noted she was talking on same obviously (I thought) calling a friend for a lifeline or whatever they call it on that tv show to get some help ID-ing me. I couldn't figure out who she or her husband were either but,they were very familiar. Every time I turned around for a few of the rides they were twiddling their thumbs while whistling and looking at everything but, me while trying to nonchalantly walk away.

• When the CIA starts hiring from a "Man on the street" program don't quit your day job friends.

• I saw the former Decatur Mayor and his wife, she was my Sunday school teacher and he the powerful,city leader who always remembered my name though years may have separated our last meeting. They got old. That's part of life- why did it hit me so hard?

• On my way to talk to them and introduce my children I saw her stopping to catch her breath. I diverted and went to the music pavillion. I don't know why,I guess I didn't want her to know I'd seen her like that. It's ridiculous but,that's what I came up with.

• The band did a song that had the line," We don't say the N word in Decatur " Whoa, stop the bus! What was that? He meant Nashville-the song was an ode to Texas music.

• My mom and dad would be out on that dance floor if no one else was. I'm kind of proud that even then, I thought that was pretty cool. My baby boy was the only one on it last night dancing at times.

• Why,when the sun first starts dropping does it become mortally, unbearably hot?

• I talked to one old acquaintance who I would guess is 10 years older than myself. After he commented on my spread (my oldest son is 14 and youngest 1) he said," But, then I have 11 grandchildren "

• I couldn't hear a thing he said after that.