Mother-Daughter Bonding

My daughter and I spent the weekend at the 32nd Annual Jackson 100 (Brownstown Speedway, Brownstown IN).  Daughter is addicted to dirt track racing.  Hubby and I have to take the blame (or the credit) for that - she's been going to the races with us since before she was born. Experts say children gravitate to sounds they heard from the womb.  She gravitates to the roar of stock car engines running wide open on dirt car tracks.

4 wide pre-race lap at Jackson 100

Daughter had been planning for this race since March, but at the last minute, the friend who was supposed to go with her backed out for reasons that seemed like excuses to us.  I encouraged daughter to let it go - not everybody has the same priorities.  But she was extremely upset and felt betrayed by her friend. I offered to go with her so she had someone to hang out with, and when she accepted, I anticipated a weekend of mother-daughter bonding.

It didn't exactly work the way I had hoped.  By the time Friday night racing was over, I was almost in tears. Instead of doing things together, Daughter wanted to control everything.  She didn't like the way I set up the tent.  She didn't like where I put the cooler.  She didn't want me getting in and out of her truck to get stuff.  Up at the track, it was my fault her camera apparently doesn't take good pictures at night - I gave it to her for Christmas.  We thought we were going to freeze sleeping in our tent, and it drizzled all night long. 

Saturday dawned wet and cool, but was an improvement over Friday.  It rained off and on all day, and we worried the race might get rained out.  We visited the pits to pass the time.  Neighboring male race fans serenaded us when we walked by in our rain boots.  "These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do. One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you."  We laughed so hard we thought we'd cry.  They broke out singing very time we walked by them for the rest of the day.  During the race, they were seated a few rows below us in the stands and they were entertaining, to say the least!  We follow a bunch of the drivers, so it was exciting to watch them battle for the lead.  Unfortunately, we were very disappointed when the only driver we didn't like won the race.   

It drizzled all night again and we woke early Sunday to pack and head for home.  Daughter was back in control mode, telling me what to do.  I wasn't allowed to put anything in the truck - it was her truck and she wanted to pack it.  She didn't like the way I folded blankets.  I didn't take the stuff out of the tent in the order she wanted to pack it.  She argued about how to fold up the tent.  She ordered me to get what I wanted out of the cooler before she closed the tailgate. Finally, we were on the road home.  

Along the way, I thought about the weekend. No, it wasn't necessarily what I had hoped it would be.  But then I remembered what she posted on Facebook when I offered to go with her, and I realized I had been thinking about things that aren't really important.  What's important is what was in her heart:  Thanks for going with me this weekend... You're always there looking out for me. So thank you. Love you.