This weekend I was stuffed and stuck in the small backseat of my Ford F-150. There I was, sitting on 3 – 25 lb bags of flour and a menagerie of other items including luggage, sugar and shoes cuz when you’re a Monkey Ball Gypsy that’s literally how you roll! Food vending in three different states requires traveling with all sorts of everything’s. And since I am such a professional proper prior planner, I also include in the backseat anything that could save me from a potential flood, earthquake, typhoon, infestation of locust, spiders or wasps and quite frankly, I think I’m prepared for anything including armageddon!
Ergonomically though, it’s damaging I suppose. I’m already in bad shape because I broke my back a few years ago. Yesterday I fell backwards onto concrete after pulling a giant Igloo cooler filled with ice and dough off of a ledge. This happened in Fargo. When events are close to Fargo I just stay at my brother’s apartment. Lucky for me my brother has a bad back too and has a closet filled with back braces. That closet just happens to be in the spare room that I have declared is my room. I found one that fit my waist perfectly. I recall how I thought that it was odd he had such a small back brace in with all of his other man size braces. He works nights.
He came home from work while I was getting ready to leave his apartment early in the morning. I told him I was borrowing one of his back braces. I showed it to him and he said, “Jodi. That’s my knee brace!”
“Okkkkay! I’m borrowing your knee brace then.” Geesh!
So now I’m carrying a knee brace among the plethora of other sundry items it takes to be a food vendor.
The actual event was in a small town near Fargo. While that husband of mine was busy setting up I went for a walk. The only time for me to enjoy some of the booths set up at any event is prior to it. I got up to a very happy looking booth. It was adorn in my most favorite color, bright yellow! The entire booth was filled with bright yellow rubber ducks and rubber duck merchandise including shirts and baby clothes. I was awestruck at the merchandise these obviously happy people were selling when suddenly I heard a noise behind me. I saw a baby stroller parked behind my back and I have a special stroller for my dog before it died. Just as I was readying my voice to ask the question, “Aww! What kind of dog is that” I recognize that that thing didn’t look like any dog I’d ever seen in my whole life! That’s because it was a four month old baby monkey. The noise I heard was a baby monkey coo alerting its human father that it needed some affection. The monkeys human dad appeared wearing a bright yellow hat with rubber ducks all over it and then I knew we had to become friends.
The baby’s name is Fynn. Not just anybody can buy a baby monkey in America. They didn’t buy it on a whim like people buy a new puppy. They collectively decided to make sacrifices of comforts within their own lives. They make a pact to spend the rest of their days raising this beautiful creation! No longer could they stay in many hotels. No longer could they travel on certain carriers. A baby monkey needs as much if not more attention than a real life human baby and together they decided to be the guardians of this little life.
Fynn and his father came to our Monkey Ball trailer and as they did a crowd appeared in complete awe-slain by the cuteness of its looks and curious about how they got it and where it came from. Not all monkey stories are the same so please don’t go to that negative place where you think it was poached or some craziness like that. This monkey was born to be a bringer of joy anywhere it goes! I stand witness with my testimony that it felt good to feel good about something again!
Meet Flynn! I think I can hear you screeching in delight all the way at my little house tucked away on the prairie of North Dakota!
The Blonde on the Prairie is a lover of ND. She is an author and motivational speaker, owner of “Monkey Balls” food truck and Joyologist to the elderly, the disabled and, now, also to children wherever she is needed during the school year and beyond.
