This will be the last year E participates in the pinewood derby. The first time was five years ago, with a pack that we left because the Boy never really felt like he fit in there.

I don’t even know how he did in that first derby, but he enjoyed it and was eager for the next derby.

The second pinewood derby was his last with that first pack. We took a year off from scouting and then returned in time for the first Covid-era pinewood derby:

I don’t remember how well we did, but I know one of E’s closest friends won that year. We tried our best, though, using all the tricks we could find:

• polishing the axels;
• bending the axles to make the wheels point outward at the bottom to minimize friction;
• mounting one front wheel high so that it didn’t touch the track;
• making sure we’d put the weight in the perfect location relative to the car’s center of gravity.

All that stuff is illegal now.

Last year, we went for a different strategy: amusement instead of performance. Our car was the Butter-mobile.

“I was hoping to win an originality award,” the Boy confessed afterward, but we didn’t even get that despite the laughs and positive comments from everyone.

This year we’re going back to a performance idea. But we’re trying to keep it simple as well.

Today we got the shape roughed in and the first bit of sanding done.

We’ll see how things go, I guess, but I’m trying to get him simply to appreciate and to enjoy the fact that this is the last time we do this.

That made it a bittersweet activity for me…