A Different Kind Of Winner

<===My son's first trophy

On Labor Day in a little Iowa town called Iowa Falls, there is a car show. My folks live just west of there, so we like to go over, and check out all the iron.

Well, my son is six now and getting to be big enough to know what a "Chevy" is and what a "Ford" is. So it was fun showing him what they were in the past, along with some brand names he hadn't heard of that are no longer being made.

Like Studebaker, and Oldsmobile, and Pontiac! (Weird to see some of those names on that list, eh?)

Anyway, after getting a refreshment in a local coffee shop, My son and I walked outside where the owners of the cars parked along the street were sitting up against the buildings and under the canopy to stay out of the sun. One of them had a big trophy, and my son started up a conversation with him about it, and the car that won him the trophy, a '62 Chevy.

My son pointed to the top of the trophy and said, "That's a cool car. I wish I had one like that!"

A man nearby said, "Here ya go! Take this!", as he handed my son a shiny golden plastic car.

"Cool!, Thank you!", my son says.

As we walk away, the man that gave him the plastic car says, "Well, ya might as well have the rest of it! Here...", and shoves his trophy, the trophy you see pictured here, into my astonished boy's hands. Many "thank yous", laughter from the elders, and smiles all around as my son hoisted the trophy over his head and says, "This is awesome!"

I think the old guy that gave away his trophy got more out of that than he would have if he had taken the thing home and shoved it into a corner of his shelf to gather dust with his other trophies. I know my son will never forget it.

The trophy says "3rd Place" on it. I think everyone felt like "first placers" on the street that Monday afternoon.