Yes, a stable income and a dental plan are great reasons for full-time employment but don't be fooled. There are some awesome advantages to being underemployed and living close to home. Suddenly, I am doing things I've been meaning to do for ages, like trying out new recipes on my parents or making plans to visit Door County again or spending a sunny Thursday afternoon with one of my favorite uncles, drinking beers and shooting an archery course. (Actually, that was reversed. Shooting first, beers later. Don't be alarmed.) And may I please add that I haven't held a bow since high school and I still managed to hit those targets every single time? Who said I wasn't a born and bred Wisconsin girl?
Anyway...
The other thing you get to do when you have such a lifestyle is check out the catfish races at the Greenville Lion's Club 22nd Annual Catfish Extravaganza. (No, I am not making up that name. Look.) European friends, close your mouths right now. And don't worry, you aren't alone. Those New Yorkers and other big city folk are also wondering what the hell I'm talking about. But for all of you who grew up in small town America, or better yet, small town Wisconsin, you're just thinking, Catfish? What about the perch?
All right, maybe that's an exaggeration. This isn't exactly your run of the mill family event in Wisconsin either, I've got to admit. When my sister suggested this as a possible outing, she didn't even let me respond at first. After the initial invitation, she just sighed and said in a defeated tone, "Yeah, I know..." but then went on to say it was a family event that her daughter would probably enjoy. Would I be interested in partaking?
To say that I was hesitant would be a pretty huge understatement. My mouth remained open for a while, too. However, Friday ended up being a lovely day so that evening, we all piled into the car to support the Lion's Club by eating their burgers, cheering my niece down a huge inflatable slide , and later watching the catfish semifinals (we didn't mess around with the preliminary races) which as you can imagine, was over in about 1.5 seconds. But again, this was all going toward charity so who was I to give people crap for placing bets on the ugly, prehistoric looking bottom feeder of their choice? (And I regret to inform that I cannot report which fancy pants catfish won the final round since the burgeoning crowd and nasty mosquitoes drove us off. I hope, dear reader, you are not crushed.)
However, in my opinion, the highlight of the night was when a helicopter appeared out of nowhere and dropped hundreds of ping pong balls for kids to collect and turn in for prizes. It was pretty darn cute to see all of those kids run down a huge, grassy hill to collect their winnings. I think my niece was a bit unnerved by it all but my sister and I couldn't stop laughing. Twenty years ago, did we have any inclination that we'd be spending a Friday night watching catfish races or diving for ping pong balls?
A few years ago, this kind of thing would have driven me mad. I would've been itching to leave by minute twelve. But now, it just made me smile, amused and content. A beautiful summer night, a good cause, a friendly crowd, a niece happier than a clam...if an ugly fish with whiskers can lead to all of that, I'm pretty okay with it.
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