A 6-foot dilemma

I had my second figure competition last weekend in Cleveland.  There was drama with the airline trying to fly out of Louisville so I started to second guess if I really should have been making the trip.  There were twice as many ladies in my figure class (14).  I sent my friends a text message in the afternoon excitedly letting them know that I’d been tested for drugs.  They asked if that was a good thing.  I explained that this was a natural competition, meaning – no drugs, steroids or diuretics allowed.  To be tested meant I placed in the top five.

Fast forward to the night show.  First place in Class B – Michelle Yeager!  Hey,that’s me!  And with the first place finish came a 6-foot trophy.  Wow!  This thing was big.  I was amazed at its size and honored to receive it.  As I left the competition at 11:30 that evening, I realized I had a big problem.  HOW AM I GOING TO TRAVEL WITH THIS 6 FT THING?  As I put the trophy into my 2-door rental car, I accidentally broke the top off the trophy – so now I only had a 5-foot trophy!  I called Southwest to see if they would let me travel with it (my flight left at 8:30am on Sunday).  NOPE!  Can I check it in?  Nope, it’s too fragile.  Can Cargo take it?  Maybe, but hold on, they are closed on Sundays.  What’s a girl to do?  Where there’s a will, there has to be a way!

My friend, Jeff, lived in the area and I woke his butt up at 6:00am to ask for some tools to take the trophy apart.  His bachelor pad was absolute chaos and even if he had the tools, there was no telling where they would be.  I asked if they had a 24-Walmart so I could go and buy the part.  There was one, but it was too far away.  Home Depot didn’t open until 8.  Crap, crap, crap.  I need to get this trophy home!!!  Just as I get online to look into renting a car and just driving myself and the 6 (now 5) foot trophy home, Jeff found the tool to take it all apart – just in time for me to rush to the airport.

I arrived safely back in Louisville and although tired, spent the next two hours trying to put this trophy (and all its little parts) back together, including super gluing on the broken lady on the top.  I looked at the trophy in amazement, but then had another positive dilemma – Where am I going to put this thing?!!!!

M.Y.  April 2008