There they all stood at the starting line,
A group of young girls, ages eight and nine,
and each girl held onto a paper plate,
Which held cotton balls which served as bait,
How fast could they run without any spilling?
The flesh was weak but the spirit was willing!
The whistle blew and the little girls ran,
cotton balls all falling into the sand,
On the sidelines my mother stood, taking a picture,
So that memory remains in my mind, a fixture,
Did I win? I don’t know–but the Schmidts loved a race
and you had to compete or else would lose face!
Sandra Lee Smith
January 19, 2012
updated August 26, 2018
