August 14, 2006: Acting Like 4 Year-Olds

There was another part of the NAJYRC experience that I wanted to share, wholly apart from the competition... and that was watching our (usually) mature young ladies behaving like 4 year-olds and not minding one bit.

You see, they’d never seen fireflies before. Never.

We went out to dinner at Applebees (I can hear you oohing and aahing over that one, but in a town like Lexington, that is BIG—we even stayed out so late as to shut down their bar, all the way to 11 PM (!)). The girls decided that with competition scheduled in the heat of the following day, they would all be taking advantage of the schooling arena opening at 6 AM, and so headed across the street to our hotel for bed. (NAJYRC isn’t like a regular show: you can’t school any old time you please. They had schedules that said things like, “Juniors can school on Thursday in the schooling arena between 6 AM and 7:30 AM, and again between 2 PM and 4:30 PM, and there will be no riding of any kind between 6 PM and 6 AM; horses are not to be removed from their stalls during this period.” They meant it, except that a trip down the barn aisle to the washrack at the end would be tolerated... but that was as far as you would dare venture.)

Anyway, the girls became distracted on the way by the fireflies, and I’m told were running through the hedges chasing after them. They returned roughly 10 minutes later, breathless and full of giggles, with their cheeks flushed and eyes open wide in amazement to show us the “prisoners” they had stashed in their purses—prisoners that they proceeded to let loose at the table for our benefit. Now, I’ve seen fireflies before. Not many times, but a few. And I have to admit they are amazing creatures, but this was a sight new even to me: fireflies flashing and flying right over my dinner table. That doesn’t even happen at Disneyland!

We scolded the girls (doing our best, all the while, to keep “serious” looks on our faces and not to laugh at them), and kept our eyes lowered, avoiding the stares of the other patrons, who could only have been thinking, “Damn Californians...” The waitresses seemed to get a kick out of the whole thing, though. Virginia’s Health Code must not take issue with fireflies.