It’s county fair time again, but this year has brought some changes. For the last few years I’ve worn two hats – 4H mom and 4H leader, making for a pretty stressful fair week.

But for the first time in forever, I do not have a child with 4H exhibits. I am no longer a 4H mom.

To be honest, this change brought some sadness, but trust me when I tell you it only lasted about five minutes.

After years of crazy fair weeks, coordinating multiple projects with multiple kids, early morning baking sessions, printing off last minute project reports and a mad dash to the fairgrounds with a stop at Hy Vee to print off pictures, there were no projects from this house.

None.

Instead of the exhausted, stressed out 4H mom secretly eating chocolate to stay calm, I became the quiet, calm 4H leader.

The mentor.

The cheerleader.

The support staff.

The filler-outer of forms.

The finder of classes.

The high-fiver.

And I took great pride and joy in the accomplishments of my 4Her’s, even sitting through the 4H rabbit show (which is as exciting as watching paint dry.)

And when the judging was over, I went out to eat with my co-leader and hashed over every blue ribbon, and purple ribbon, and State Fair ribbon.

Then I returned home to a quiet and clean house.

And ate some chocolate – just for the memories!