The Adrenaline of Family Life - 2/14/12

OK, so I think we can all agree that stealing Tony Stewart’s car for a joyride was a really good decision. (Tony said as much himself by not punching me in the face.) It was definitely necessary.

It’s not that I find family life boring. On the contrary, raising a family is definitely the most breathtaking, awe-inspiring and completely insane endeavor I have ever attempted. When you have kids, even their smallest victories feel huge to you -- they bring home an A on a test (I’m obviously talking about Eve here), and you feel as proud as you did the day you restrained yourself from knocking that loudmouth kid at the mall off his skateboard. You live and die by their sporting events and dance recitals, though not so much by their “crazy” decisions to wear 10 colors of nail polish at one time. Parenting is truly is an adventure unto itself.

But the day-to-day of family life just doesn’t get the ol’ ticker pumping. There’s a lot of sitting in traffic, a lot of grocery shopping, and a lot of “Who the heck spent $380 on belts last week?” The exciting times are there, they just happen over a longer period of time, so they don’t trigger that adrenaline rush. I’m actually surprised it took Vanessa so long to snap and do something a little wild…she’s spent more time on family duty than I have. It’s like hitting the release valve on a water heater…you’ve gotta do that every now and then to keep it operating smoothly.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go take a shower. I felt so dirty tossing the keys to my precious truck into the hands of that maniac Sprint Cup champ. I’m sorry, girl.