Feelin' like a boss...

I have to admit, I'm feelin' like a boss.  I've got a little swagger in my step.

Our local show was Saturday, and I feel like I really did something.

Most of the competitors for Overall Exhibitor

Me and my loot!

I took five heifers:  Fara, my bred and owned Holstein, won Jr. Champion.  Prim, my bred and owned Ayrshire, won Reserve Jr. Champion.  Stopnstare, my younger Jersey, helped me win Showmanship.  Fara won Grand Champion Dairy Heifer.  To top it all off, I won 4-H Overall Exhibitor...for the third year in a row!!!

Recently I wrote about the controversy about my top-two status for three years in a row.  A couple of families have been very loud and ugly about it.  The rules were changed, but not as drastically as a couple of people suggested.  I followed the new rules, and I won it again.  Who knows what kind of response that will bring in the next month or so.

Tiffany, one of the FFA officers, pulled me aside before the show and told me not to listen or worry about what other people were saying about me.  A mother stopped my mom in the parking lot and told her how sorry she was that my family and I were having to go through all that.  She also said that she couldn't believe how my mom could sit there and listen and not fly off the handle.  Mom explained that she wanted to teach me how people can be sometimes when they feel bad about themselves.  Her flying off the handle and saying ugly things would not make things better.  She told her that I have nothing to be sorry for.  I follow the rules.  I do my own work.  Ms. Jennings follows the rules.  Neither one of us has anything to feel guilty about.  We can both honestly hold our heads up high.

We feel sorry for people who are so angry just because their children do not win.  We wonder how bad they make their own children feel.  Talk about pressure.

I told Mom last week that I didn't care if I won or not.  She said she knew that.  She said I was the same way last year.  All she asked was that I didn't just "lay down", which means "not try".  I told her no, I would't do that.  I would do my best, but if I didn't get it, I wouldn't be upset.  I would be happy for whoever won.

I told my mom that the thing that bothers me the most is that the people that are being so ugly are the people who are supposed to support ALL of the exhibitors, not just a few, not just their own.  When they say, "It's for the kids," I don't believe them.