The Fair!

Yesterday was opening day at the Tulare County Fair. 

I got a free ticket for myself and a discounted ticket for Adam by volunteering at La Leche League's "Baby Cafe" booth from 3:00 to 7:00.  I hoped by volunteering that I'd meet people and make friends, and in that I was not disappointed.

Jean, the Tulare LLL leader, introduced me to the other moms and nurses working the booth: Heather, Susan and Brooke.  We all hit it off and had pleasant conversation in between visits from "customers."  I look forward to seeing them again at future LLL events.

The booth was funded by a grant for SIDS prevention education, so that was an element, but the main focus was of course breastfeeding advocacy.  There was a enclosed tent containing a fan, a changing table and three arm chairs for mothers to nurse or feed their babies in a quiet/private spot (and some chairs outside the tent for mothers like me who don't feel the need to hide away while nursing), and a second changing table outside the tent as well.  We had a table stocked with informational brochures and a true/false quiz on reasons for/normalcy of breastfeeding. 

Young children had the chance to take a simplified version of the quiz wherein they were asked where a series of baby barnyard animals get their milk, ("from their mommies" most said, although a few said the store or a cow!), and finally were asked where baby humans get their milk. 

Charlotte entertained herself by running circles in and around and through the tent, coloring on a paper and eating a burrito with me.  However, after about two hours, she was restless and wanting to explore beyond the confines of our little area.  Jean gave me permission to take her on a walk.  We went to the kiddie "ag exploration" row where Charlotte milked water from a plastic cow, played musical instruments made of rusty farm tools, played in a box of beans and a box of corn, raked hay and made a paper flower.  Then we went inside one building where there was a table with coloring sheets and temporary tattoos of the fair logo as well as a miniature train setup that turned out to be a demonstration of flood prevention. 

In between times we would return to the LLL booth and rest and/or nurse for a while before taking off again. 

Finally we went to see the animals.  It was then I realized that this was a REAL fair.  Unlike the Orange County fair where the animals are on display almost as curiosities as though in a zoo, there was pen after pen of pigs, sheep and cattle, and every where we turned we saw 4H kids and parents working hard to get their animals ready to show: giving them a shower, shearing the sheep, leading them to the arena, cleaning out the pens or just patting them and talking to them. 

After my shift was over, Adam got off work and came to meet us.  While we waited for him, we explored the Home Arts building.  Gorgeous quilts, delicious-looking and amazingly decorated desserts, beautiful table settings, carved food art, doll clothes, intricately hand-knitted and crocheted items and ingenious handmade wooden toys were all on display, each with a ribbon of recognition ranging from "Best in Show" as well as 1st through 5th place.  

Charlotte requested to go back and see the animals again.  A man was standing with his cow near a bucket of water and we struck up a conversation while Charlotte petted her.  Small world in a small town as it turns out he knows friends of the family.  A fellow believer, he encouraged us to keep looking for the right church and trust that the Spirit would lead us. 

Small world in a small town once again in the sheep area when we ran into some fellows that Adam used to work with at R-N Market back when he was attending College of the Sequoias.

And then as we walked through the pig area, Charlotte stopped to play with two little girls.  Their grandmother said to Adam, "You look like you must be a Sierdsma."  Turns out she was the vice-principal when he was in high school, and currently goes to my sister-in-law Shelly to get her nails done, and her husband is our favorite source of delicious barbecue for parties. 

I was reminded of how the fair was presented in Charlotte's Web, the cartoon version, and came away humming, "The fair is a veritable smorgasborg, orgasborg, orgasborg, ... "

Meeting and interacting with all those people was good for my soul too, a reminder that this IS my home now, and it is a good one.