Matthews Alive

The picture above was taken last Labor Day Weekend at Matthews Alive, a festival that my parent's town has every year. Dad was always so in love with Matthews and always said how glad he was that they had found the town. It has a small town feel even though it's right next to a big city. Matthews and surrounding towns actually have tons of festivals and Dad always loved to attend.

Within the past few years, we have gone to Matthews Alive, Mint Hill Madness, Beach Fest, Hometown Holiday, the annual Easter Egg Hunt and many others. Dad always wanted to make sure that the kids were having fun and he was a kid at heart too. He would always say, "I wanna get up there and get the kids on some of them rides." I think he had just as much fun watching them as they did riding. The first time Seth ever rode a kiddie ride by himself was at one of the festivals. He got on the little train and at first was nervous. Within seconds he was having a great time but, being a shy guy, tried to contain
his smile. Dad got such a kick out of it!

We all went to Matthew Alive this weekend. We had a good time but it just wasn't the same without Dad. Dana took Seth and Molly on the parachute ride and it jogged the memory of Dad taking us on the same ride as kids at Kennywood. He would always joke around, saying "Uh oh. Did you hear that? The bolts are creaking... I think they're breaking. Oh no....." We were on to his game but it still added to the thrill of the ride. He would have loved to play the same prank on his grandkids!

I have so many amusement park/fair memories with Dad. We would always go to the Fireman's Fair in West Mifflin and ride the ferris wheel. We used to go to Kennywood every summer for school picnic, the GM picnic and the Shriner's picnic. They had so many great rides and I cannot wait to share them with Seth. Dad and Mom always loved to ride the wooden roller coasters together, the Jack Rabbit and the Racers, but especially the Thunder Bolt.

Once, Dad had Dana, Dan, Heath and I at Idlewild park and he had one of those pastel drawings done. (I was taller than Heath if that tells you anything about how long ago it was.) Grandma still has that drawing framed on the wall of the middle bedroom to this day.

Another time, when Mom was in the hospital after her foot surgery, Dad took us to visit her and then we went to the SC State Fair. He had us all over that fair and rode the rides with us. For some reason, I really remember us all riding the giant slide - over and over. At the time we were probably ages 32, 8, 5 and 3. Looking back now, I see that he was either really brave or really nuts! I don't think I'd have the guts to take three kids to the state fair by myself, but we all made it out without incident!

I also vividly remember going to an amusement park when we first moved to the beach. Dad and I rode a roller coaster and as we neared the peak of the first hill the bar flew up. Dad pulled and pulled on it but it wouldn't go down. He literally had to sit on me to keep my from flying out of the cart. About a week or so later, there was an article in the paper about the roller coaster being torn down.

I don't think I will ever attend a fair, festival or amusement park again and not think of Dad. I hope we all will be able to give our kids as many fun memories as he gave to us!