for the love of nascar

poor chris. he is a sports fan in just about every sense of the word. he loves to watch sports, play sports, discuss sports, read about sports, participate in fantasy sports leagues, and complain about sports. (apparently his beloved dodgers are providing much fodder in that department this year.) although he has no idea when his parents' anniversary is, if you ask him who the leading receiver was of any random pro football team in, like, 1947, he'll tell you the answer without blinking an eye. liam is beginning to follow in his dad's footsteps. he's actually quite good at baseball (although his batting form needs a little work), dribbles the soccer ball up and down the field, catches a football with relative ease, and has set basketball plays that usually involve a slam dunk. i am thankful for chris's athletic DNA, because Lord knows our children aren't going to get much in that area from the atkins side of the family. (my wall was adorned with those orange "partipicant" ribbons from swim meets growing up -- i didn't realize that people were awarded actual medals and trophies for being good.) so -- why did i start out by saying "poor chris"? because the one sport he doesn't really follow, doesn't really care to follow, and doesn't understand, is car racing. and car racing happens to be the one sport that, at this point in our lives, fuels liam's very existence (pun intended). my husband has a son who is obsessed -- and i mean OBSESSED -- with the only sport that doesn't interest him in the least. every night as we say our family prayers, liam clasps his little hands together, closes his eyes in reverence, and starts us off with, "God bless nascar." minutes later when we tuck him into bed, he makes sure to line up his 42 car and 1 car right next to his pillow. just in case you're interested, the 42 car driver is juan pablo montoya and the 1 car is driven by martin truex jr. i also know that the 20 car is orange for its home depot sponsor, that the semi-good looking jeff gordon drives the 24, and that kyle busch is the most despised man in the game. i could die a happy woman if i never had to listen to liam read NASCAR: the need for speed to me one more time. (thankfully it's a library book that's going back this week.) so, during this phase (we're trying to convince ourselves that it is, indeed, a phase), chris and i are expanding our horizons. we're learning something new. i guess that's a big part of what parenting is about, anyway -- growing and changing and becoming more than what we used to be. we just never thought our personal development would involve darrell waltrip.