Last Saturday morning, I turned on The Weather Channel because that’s what I do first thing in the morning…I check to see just how quickly the forecast has changed in an eight to nine-hour period. You know living in the South, that’s just the way it is with the weather.

Actually, I was really worried about the Luverne Rotary Club’s &uot;Family Day&uot; that was planned for that afternoon. I had plans to go myself, but with all of the severe weather, I just wasn’t sure if it was going to get rained out or not.

Well, with umbrella and raincoat in hand, I headed to Luverne.

Now, my first suggestion for next year’s event is to have a booth that either sells or gives away sunscreen. Here I come bee-bopping in with a sleeveless shirt on. Of course, when I first got there, the bottom of the sky fell out, and everyone had to take shelter under the pavilion. While most people fretted and worried, I had fun taking the cutest pictures of six-year-old Hye Jin Oh, who had her umbrella and was half in, half out of the rain. You know how kids are. They think dodging in and out of the rain is fun; it is, you know, unless you’re 30-plus-plus and you don’t feel like dodging anything except the bills.

Anyway, after about 45 minutes of huddling together from the wind and rains, it all stopped, and the next thing we knew, the sun came out. Now, back to my point about the sunscreen.

There I was in a red sleeveless shirt. By the end of the afternoon, my shoulders and arms were as red as my shirt. It’s not like these arms have seen the light of day in a few months. So, next year? Sunscreen booth.

Moving forward with my list of suggestions. I am no equestrian by any means, but I do love horses. And I would love to ride a horse just as long as there is a seat belt and an air bag attached to the critter in some shape, form or fashion. However, I took one look at that precious little pony the children were riding, and I thought to myself, &uot;Self, this is discrimination. This is discrimination because I know that I would crush that precious animal, and I would not be able to live with myself if that happened. It would take nothing less than a Clydesdale to hold me up.&uot; Okay. Next year, I’d better see a Clydesdale out there just for me.

Paintball. Now there’s a sport that I wish had been around in the 70s when my two older brothers and I were having acorn fights. Can you imagine the Tide and Clorox commercials that would have been aired for paintball stains back in the 70s? Of course, the whole time I’m watching the kids shoot with these paintball guns, I hear my mother’s voice ringing in my head: &uot;You’ll shoot your eye out with that thing!&uot;

My suggestion for next year? Let my two older brothers, Lamar and Britt Grayson, be moving targets for the kids with the paintball guns. Oh, and let me be first in line.

The giant slide looked like lots of fun, and the kids were having a great time sliding headfirst and backward and every which way. However, every so often, air had to be pumped back into it to keep it full. In the back of my mind, I was tempted to slide down it myself, but I knew that would have been a disaster waiting to happen. I could just hear some little kid running up to her mom crying, &uot;Mommy, the newspaper lady tore up the slide!&uot; And, there I’d be, the whole thing deflated with me in the middle of it. Nope. I wasn’t touching that one.

After discussing Family Day with Samson, my 21-pound tomcat, he came up with a great new addition to next year’s event. All he needs is a turban and a crystal ball and walah! The Great Samsonini will tell you your future….for a price, of course. He did say he’d split the proceeds with the Rotary Club….90-10…..

Regina Grayson is managing editor of The Luverne Journal. She can be reached at 335-3541 or by email,: regina.grayson@luvernejournal.com.