Nascar, Family, God, and Country

Sometimes, all of the pieces fall into place.  It's rare, but when it happens,  it's a beautiful thing.  And it happened yesterday.  Here's how it went....

Now, as most people know...ok, everyone knows because I don't hide my feelings well... Anyway,  I love my Punkins (well, all my Family), I love Nascar, I'm extremely patriotic, and I love my Lord.  And that's not in order of importance by the way. 

Yesterday as everyone knows, due to your newsfeeds being blown up by my pictures and posts, I had all of those important aspects of my life happening!    

We got to Richmond Raceway at 7AM, and got front row parking.  We set up our tailgating area, cranked up the music (a playlist created by input from all of us, so every genre accounted for), had breakfast, and tried to stay warm...it was in the 30s!  It warmed up through the morning,  and we explored all that the fan area had to offer. 

An interesting area we enjoyed was the "Who's Your Driver" area.  And they are not talking about your Nascar driver.  They are promoting driving sober, so who's your DD.  I played basketball with "drunk goggles" on, the Punkins rode a bike through a maze with those goggles on, and Ryan drove a simulator with goggles on.  Very enlightening for us all!  

We also enjoyed meeting the Punkins' driver, got autographs, attended the red carpet, getting more autographs before the driver's meeting, and just plain had fun!  Lots of food, a few naps, and we're ready for the evening.

Fast forward to the race.  6:30 PM, beautiful sun starting to sink lower in the sky, stands filled with lots of blue collar redneck types, lots of older vets wearing their hats proclaiming which war they fought in, and lots of families just like ours, toting our coolers filled with our premade sandwiches and snacks, water and other drinks (yes, you can take your own food and drink into Nascar events!). 
First there are driver intros, and drivers in back of trucks going around the track waving at the fans.  Next up there is a singing of God Bless America.   Then there's the prayer.  Yes, I said prayer! At every race!  At the end of this prayer, asking for the safety of the drivers, there is a very loud Amen by all the fans.  Finally, there is the singing of the National Anthem,  complete with fireworks when the rockets red glare part is sung.  On the final note, all eyes to the sky, here comes the flyover of the fighter jets.  And then the chant begins....USA, USA, USA!

That chant did me in.  I had it all right there yesterday.  I had my family, I had Nascar, I had patriotism, and I had my faith.  It all came together,  and I couldn't have had a better day!