Thankful

12/10/04

 

It is awful easy, when you write a column like this once or twice a month to get in the habit of venting or complaining. Especially now, when NASCAR and virtually all other series, seem to be under a magnifying glass it is easy to find fault and point fingers, to complain about bad or broken rules, unfair penalties or calls, dirty drivers or unrealistic expectations. It is also somewhat in fashion these days to complain about silly things that we can’t control like bad weather causing havoc with our schedule and the cost of fuel making it hard to attend races. The list goes on and I’m at least as guilty of this as anyone else. With this being the Holiday season, I thought it would be a nice time to stray from that negative concept a bit and give a little thanks for some of the things that I, and I’m sure many others, really appreciate about life.

I have to be thankful for my mother who, without any help from my father, raised me, cared for me and is still willing to take care of me if care is needed. I’m very thankful for my stepfather who is a wonderful person and takes very good care of my Mother these days. They spend their winters in Myrtle Beach and that provides me with not only an excuse to be only 50 miles from Darlington during race weekend, but also a place to stay during that week. I was especially thankful to be there this year as Martin Truex Jr. celebrated clinching the Busch Series championship during his first full season in the series. It was very exciting to watch him stop on the frontstretch and do a huge burnout in the Wrangler Chevy! We’ve all watched Martin “grow up” and it was pretty easy to feel thankful and very proud for what he has accomplished.

Any of us that follow the Busch North series has to be thankful for a wonderful returning series sponsor, a diverse and updated schedule which will, hopefully, be out in time for all of us to make our season plans, for televised races, for tracks close to home, for up-to-the-minute internet news updates and for our renewable resources, the new up and coming stars that seem to come every year to mature and hopefully move on to bigger and better things as Martin, Paul Wolfe and Ryan Moore are doing right now and Ricky Craven, Andy Santerre and others have done in the past.

Many of us need to be very thankful for extended contracts, returning advertisers and especially readers that allow us to continue with an outlet for our creativity and indulge us when we ramble on. I’m also thankful for the other members of the Busch North “Mini-media” who have become great friends and are always good for a little help or a laugh to make life a bit easier or more fun. We need to be thankful for our friends who help us with all kinds of crazy stuff like building houses, keeping our kids in serviceable cars and scoring Patriots and Red Sox tickets now and then.

I’m thankful to have a wonderful wife who not only allows, but supports my silly habit of jumping into the car and heading off somewhere to a race or race related function, about anytime or anywhere I want and is always ready to help me with a stupid request or to give support when I’m unsure of myself.

Lastly, I’m thankful for my kids. Only those who have had children can understand the feelings involved in raising them. My kids are my heroes and are what keeps me going. I strive to be as loyal, energetic, laid-back and quick witted as my son who is now away at college becoming an adult and I would love to be as creative, multi-talented and focused as my daughter who turns 17 today and just now drove off to school in a snowstorm. One of them is giving me gray hairs on the telephone and one is still bringing them home at night. Each one of those gray hairs is like a prize and as long as they continue to provide them, I’ll continue to be thankful for them.

As always, send Questions, Comments, Hate Mail, and Indecent Proposals to, Fish c/o Busch North Scene or e-mail them to fishy@ctel.net