Now last summer may have been one of the hardest summers on me that I can remember, getting up early, working all day, going to bed late, but it is also one of the best memories I have.Last summer was election time for the Judge of White and Spencer counties. The father of the family I life with, Judge Benningfield, was up for re-election and since I didn't pay any sort of rent I was chosen to be his right hand man, actually more of his wife's right hand man, in the quest for victory.
I had many responsibilites during that time, mostly revolving around signs with Sam's name on them, but when ever possible it was good to be seen by the public eye (ie. getting your picture in the paper with "Re-Elect Sam Benningfield" on your T-shirt).
So that is what these pictures are. They are some that were taken during a little public outing: a fire hall fund raiser. Now most wouldn't have thought of me as a hotdog eating machine, and compared to the ones on ESPN, I'm not, but some how I held my own that day.
The rules were simple: eat as many hotdogs as you can, bun and all, in ten minutes. Anyone who looked like they were about to give the dogs back were asked to stop eating and move away from the area. Anyone who let loose was disqualified.
Now there is more to eating hotdogs than most would think. I took some advice from friends who watched the epic battles on ESPN and learned very quicking two things. Take the bun and dog apart. Dip the bun in water and squeeze all of the air our for better results.The time hand come and we were off. I didn't really know at I was doing. The larger guy to my right started off much faster that I did. I didn't know if I would keep up. But I stayed at it, swallowing dogs and dipping bread in water.
I lost count of how many I had eaten pretty soon, my stomach started to feel up, my throat felt like I still had food in it after swallowing, and because I was eating much slower the bread was getting very soggy and made me near sick many times.
But I kept eating, I would have to stand up and stretch out my stomach. Eventually, the limit had been met. I shoved down just a little more to finish the dog I was eating and the final talley was taken. I thought forsure the guy next to me had won, even though he sat down very early. Coming down the line they announced the scores. The guy next to me had only eaten eight and I knew that I had passes that.
It was down to only two people, and older woman and myself. I remember her talking before the contest of her winning ones before. She was an expert and this was my first attempt. I knew that she had won, I knew that I had failed. They gave her number, 10.5. I was suprized, I thought it would have been higher. They gave my number, 13. I had won, I couldn't believe it. My stomach was fun and I was happy.
So, they gave me my award, $50, which I of course gave right back to them and then I had my picture taken, with my "Re-elect Sam Benniningfield" t-shirt on. It was a sucessful day. I had accomplished the task. Now, the fulfullment of all of that came when we were in Coffee Corner and it was anounced that Sam had won. Not that my eating won it for him, but it is nice to think that I took part in something that affected so many and the "honorable" Sam Benningfield kept his seat.
Oh, such great memories. Thank you to all who made such a great time possible. It was a hard summer, but I would repeat it in a heart beat. Long days of driving around putting up signs, meeting people I didn't know, going door to door for hours so many nights, and going home with the family that loved me enough to provide a place for me to live. I'll never forget last summer
