State Fair and Free Stuff

This weekend my family and I get the opportunity to attend the "Great Minnesota Get Together", otherwise known as the State Fair for free. Well, somewhat free. My son won tickets which is a great blessing because just getting inside the gate will set a family our size back about $40.00. So this year, we are taking the tactic that we each have a $7.00-$8.00 food budget. The rule is that each person has to buy one thing each that we can share and one thing each that they want to try on their own. My son wants to try fried alligator and the girls are scared that will be the thing he wants to share. Without the free tickets, we just couldn't go so it's a pretty big blessing that we get to go do this.

Having said that, as a stranger in a strange land I accused my wife last night of going native Minnesotan on me when she wanted to put something out in the yard with a "free" sign on it. You see it all over out here, especially in rural areas. It's not uncommon to drive down the road and see an old dresser here and especially baby stuff here or there. Like a good agriculture state, the harvest of free goods seem to peak during the fall as garages need to again accomodate vehicles. Sometimes, the stuff isn't free. Another common site is an older snowmobile or car parked along a farm road with a big red "For Sale" sign purchased for the local hardware. I'm not making a judgement, it's just one of those, "You know you are in Minneosta when. . ." signs.

A friend once talked about having spiritual "gift of free". They just seemed to come into stuff, whether it was cars, movies, vacations, whatever. Who am I to complain, I'm going to take my "free" stuff and run.