Dad's Proudest Moment(s)

Okay, I acknowledge I'm a different sort, especially when it comes to parenting. When Regan was seven and we wanted to get her involved in a sport, the logical choice would have been soccer . . . . . I chose BMX. There were a lot of good reasons for that, that I won't go into here. We're slowly becoming more conventional over time - Meredith ran junior track for several seasons, Sydney plays soccer, and Phillip plays soccer and t-ball. But for all of these years I've had to repress my inner "stage dad" because I've never had a kid willing to get involved in the sport that I really love. . . . until now. I'm a racing addict, and I know that most people don't even pretend to understand it. Watching it on TV doesn't help. Until you're at the track and see the speed and hear the sound and witness the violence of it all up close, you won't ever understand. All of these drivers start somewhere and its usually at about Phillip's age. Through an interesting series of events about a month ago, I received an invitation from the Director of Race Operations at Miller Motorsports Park to bring Phillip out to the Karting center, have him outfitted with gear, and get some instructions in a true race kart. So, last Friday we made arrangements to meet the Director at the track and let Phillip give it a try. He was very nervous and, while he has ridden four-wheelers in the past, he has never used a steering wheel or foot pedals.

So, they got him outfitted with a helmet, neck brace, rib protector, and chest protector and rolled him out to the smaller track (the bigger track had some full size karts running at the time).
It took him several laps to feel comfortable with the foot controls, but after about 10 minutes his lap times started to drop in half. A few times he would stop and talk to the Director or me (at opposite sides of the track) for some pointers.

Needless to say, he overcame his nervousness and had a lot of fun. He's decided that he would like to try racing next season and that we need to buy him a kart (ONLY about $3k for the kart and required gear). So we'll see if that works out next year.

In a related story, Meredith is also going down the path to fulfill another secret dream of mine. I started my first rock band in the eighth grade and played in bands up until a few months before my mission. After a 13 year break, I got into another band in 1997 that lasted until 2003. I love this stuff. I've nagged Meredith for a long time about learning to play guitar, but she always told me that she had no interest. Then, all on her own a few months ago, she picked up one of the guitars around the house, found some instruction books, and started teaching herself to play. Since that time she's made better progress than anyone I've ever seen. She's now working on putting a band together and has a keyboard player and a drummer, and is currently working on a bass player. If things go right, I'll be the road manager for one of my kids in no time. Move over Taylor Swift . . . . .