Just Another Friday Evening...
The top picture is of the Speedway during the event and the huge screens used; the bottom picture is Cool Hand Luke himself at the race track 
So yesterday afternoon while I was at Area Command, someone called wanting to donate 8 tickets to the world-wide premiere of the Disney/Pixar film "Cars." Since I was at the right place at the right time, I got the tickets. As always (atleast lately), I was hesitant to spend my personal weekend time doing work-related things. But I knew this was an opportunity that was once in a lifetime for these kids, so at the last minute, I gathered together a group of kids, got permission from their parents, and headed to Lowe's Motor Speedway in the rain and traffic in search for a new experience.
Yes, it took forever to get there... driving through traffic at the Speedway during a race weekend is never ideal. And yes, it took forever to be able to park, and yes, it took too long to wait on the shuttle bus to get us from the parking lot to the building. But, the kids and I were all in good spirits, and we finally made it to our entry gate. We had the unfortunate privilege on our way in of walking past some avid race car fans who had been enjoying the day drinking in the sun, but the kids laughed at their bellies hanging out of their clothes and their inappropriate t-shirts showing naked women fishing.
Along with the actual tickets to the event, everyone received these backstage-pass-looking badges to wear that admitted them in. When the security guards asked to see our badges, the kids all flashed theirs like they were movie stars. Then we got to walk down the actual red carpet on which all the celebrities were posing for the cameras as we entered the stadium. You should have seen the kids walking down this red carpet. I think they really thought the cameras were there for them. They were waving to everyone, hamming it up, and saying, "thank you, thank you..." Most people didn't pay them any attention, but they did get some smiles and "enjoy your evenings" from the event staff. Celebrities such as Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Larry the Cable Guy, Tony Shalhoub (Monk), Cheech, and Mona from Who's the Boss were all there since they were the voices of characters in the movie. Once we finally got seated (after the whole group of us scooted through a row of people only to find out we were in the wrong seats and had to scoot back out again-- twice!), we were able to enjoy a short race, a military salute complete with airplanes flying overhead, and a concert by some country singer (Who, in the words of one of the girls with me, "has a good voice, for a hillbilly!") before the movie began.
As we were sitting there, it occurred to me that these poor kids must be starving... it was almost 9:00, and they hadn't had any dinner. Sure enough, right when I started thinking this, they started saying, "Miss Stephanie, I'm hungry." "Miss Stephanie, I want some nachos." And almost as immediate, a man sitting a couple seats from us scooted over to me and said that he was glad we were able to attend, and he gave me quite a bit of money to buy some snacks and drinks for the kids. It turns out, he was the one who donated the tickets to us, and he ended up being a sort of guardian angel for us the rest of the night by giving us money for food, giving us towels to wipe off our seats after it rained, and giving the kids souvenir t-shirts that they each immediately thanked him for and wore.
The movie didn't get started until after 10pm, so I knew it would be a late night. It was shown on huge movie screens that were 5 stories high and 50 stories wide. It was a really cute movie-- it's amazing the personality that animators can give to a car-- and it had some notable lessons intertwined into the plot. Luckily, before we had left the Club, I grabbed a couple of jackets from the lost & found and had Tilden bring me a blanket from home because it started raining while we were watching the movie, and it got chilly as the night progressed. When the movie was over, I woke up two of the girls who had fallen asleep snuggled under the blanket, and carried one of them as we started our trek back to where we were parked. After having all of the kids take turns using the bathroom in the bushes around the parking lot because we were parked in some gravel lot far from any real bathroom (we created a boys bathroom and a girls bathroom in the bushes), we hopped back in the van and headed home.
On the way home, I told the kids that it was after midnight, so it was technically the next day. They didn't believe me at first, but I explained a little more what I meant. Then one of the girls, the one I carried to the van, said in her adorable sleepy voice, "well, in that case, good morning, Miss Stephanie!" I dropped each of the kids off at their homes, waited for them to knock on their doors and their parents' bedroom windows to wake them up and let them in, wave good bye to me, and safely get into their homes. Then I too, went to my home. By the time I got home, it was almost 2:00am.
Yeah, I spent my Friday evening, night, and early Saturday morning working, but not only were these kids able to make a memory they will remember forever, I somehow did as well.
Yes, it took forever to get there... driving through traffic at the Speedway during a race weekend is never ideal. And yes, it took forever to be able to park, and yes, it took too long to wait on the shuttle bus to get us from the parking lot to the building. But, the kids and I were all in good spirits, and we finally made it to our entry gate. We had the unfortunate privilege on our way in of walking past some avid race car fans who had been enjoying the day drinking in the sun, but the kids laughed at their bellies hanging out of their clothes and their inappropriate t-shirts showing naked women fishing.
Along with the actual tickets to the event, everyone received these backstage-pass-looking badges to wear that admitted them in. When the security guards asked to see our badges, the kids all flashed theirs like they were movie stars. Then we got to walk down the actual red carpet on which all the celebrities were posing for the cameras as we entered the stadium. You should have seen the kids walking down this red carpet. I think they really thought the cameras were there for them. They were waving to everyone, hamming it up, and saying, "thank you, thank you..." Most people didn't pay them any attention, but they did get some smiles and "enjoy your evenings" from the event staff. Celebrities such as Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Larry the Cable Guy, Tony Shalhoub (Monk), Cheech, and Mona from Who's the Boss were all there since they were the voices of characters in the movie. Once we finally got seated (after the whole group of us scooted through a row of people only to find out we were in the wrong seats and had to scoot back out again-- twice!), we were able to enjoy a short race, a military salute complete with airplanes flying overhead, and a concert by some country singer (Who, in the words of one of the girls with me, "has a good voice, for a hillbilly!") before the movie began.
As we were sitting there, it occurred to me that these poor kids must be starving... it was almost 9:00, and they hadn't had any dinner. Sure enough, right when I started thinking this, they started saying, "Miss Stephanie, I'm hungry." "Miss Stephanie, I want some nachos." And almost as immediate, a man sitting a couple seats from us scooted over to me and said that he was glad we were able to attend, and he gave me quite a bit of money to buy some snacks and drinks for the kids. It turns out, he was the one who donated the tickets to us, and he ended up being a sort of guardian angel for us the rest of the night by giving us money for food, giving us towels to wipe off our seats after it rained, and giving the kids souvenir t-shirts that they each immediately thanked him for and wore.
The movie didn't get started until after 10pm, so I knew it would be a late night. It was shown on huge movie screens that were 5 stories high and 50 stories wide. It was a really cute movie-- it's amazing the personality that animators can give to a car-- and it had some notable lessons intertwined into the plot. Luckily, before we had left the Club, I grabbed a couple of jackets from the lost & found and had Tilden bring me a blanket from home because it started raining while we were watching the movie, and it got chilly as the night progressed. When the movie was over, I woke up two of the girls who had fallen asleep snuggled under the blanket, and carried one of them as we started our trek back to where we were parked. After having all of the kids take turns using the bathroom in the bushes around the parking lot because we were parked in some gravel lot far from any real bathroom (we created a boys bathroom and a girls bathroom in the bushes), we hopped back in the van and headed home.
On the way home, I told the kids that it was after midnight, so it was technically the next day. They didn't believe me at first, but I explained a little more what I meant. Then one of the girls, the one I carried to the van, said in her adorable sleepy voice, "well, in that case, good morning, Miss Stephanie!" I dropped each of the kids off at their homes, waited for them to knock on their doors and their parents' bedroom windows to wake them up and let them in, wave good bye to me, and safely get into their homes. Then I too, went to my home. By the time I got home, it was almost 2:00am.
Yeah, I spent my Friday evening, night, and early Saturday morning working, but not only were these kids able to make a memory they will remember forever, I somehow did as well.
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