Trisha and I met plenty of celebrities on the Red Carpet, including Dancing with the Stars champions Kristi Yamaguchi and Julianne Hough, contestants Sabrina Bryan of the Cheetah girls and Academy Award winning actress Marlee Matlin, Slash from Guns and Roses, and Hall of Fame football player Marcus Allen.  

It was all very thrilling.   But nothing compared to the national anthem, sung beautifully by Julianne Hough, the fly over by F-22 Raptor Jets and that famous announcement “Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines.”  Seconds later, the cars were zipping around the track faster than I have ever seen anything move without taking off.

I even had a couple of “commentators” tell me what to watch for during the race. Edward and Nancy Fisher are pictured above and this was the 50^th year they’ve come to see The Indy 500.  This is how serous they are about their racing.  They both live in Florida, and Edward was released from the hospital at 3:00 Saturday morning.  One hour later, they were on the road to come to Indy.  Now that’s what I call commitment!

Trisha and I also loved the fans.  There is nothing like seeing over 300 thousand people passionate about the same thing.

Scott Dixon may have won the race.  But Trisha and I feel like we’re the real winners!!! We can’t wait ’till next year.

    Since it’s Memorial Day my mind keeps wandering to all of the military families - those who are remembering someone lost in battle, those grateful their veteran is safely back home, and those still hoping and praying for a loved one’s safe return.

     I have been emailing one military wife, Sarah Winters from Denver, IN, for several months now, and thought it was time to share her story.   Earlier this month Sarah gave birth prematurely to twin boys while her husband, Jeremy, was in Iraq with his National Guard unit.  He missed the birth due to their early arrival, but was allowed to come home to spend some precious moments with Noah and Elijah.  

  I asked Sarah to share a few of her thoughts and photos with all of you who read this blog.  It’s hard for me to imagine the strength it would take to do what she’s doing right now.

     If you’d like to send her any of your thoughts, prayers, or similar experiences, feel free to do so here.  She, her boys, and her husband are certainly in my thoughts!  -Trisha

Trisha,

Well we are doing alright for our situation I guess. Jeremy already has left. He went back on May 18. Now  the boys and I are sick so I’ve had to take them back to the doctors office twice now. I tell ya this isn’t all that easy. I never realized just how much help Jeremy actually gave me in just the few short weeks he was home.

    Because the boys were premature they have to be supplemented in their feedings on top of breast feeding. It’s hard looking at the boys because all I see is my husband. I miss him so much and I just wish he was home to be with them and to help.

    I got a good taste of what my life was gonna be like when I took them to the doctor, carrying them both by myself I swear is a huge chore for me. Being pregnant with them they actually drained my body of any nourishment I had so I was literally losing weight of my regular frame and just gaining it in my stomach. After I had them Jeremy and I were able to get home for a short time for clothes and I wore my regular jeans back to the hospital just 5 days after having them. I’m still losing weight because there is just no time for yourself when there are 2 of them and a 2 year old without your husband.

   It’s so hard for me because now that I can honestly say and feel what love is all about and know without one doubt in my mind that I have that it is very difficult to be separated from my husband knowing that he’s dying inside too becsause he wants to come home. You can’t imagine how hard it is to listen to your husband who is supposed to be this tough strong guy cry to you on the phone because he can hear his babies in the background growing without him. And listening to him beg to figure out how to come home.

     A part of me is always missing without him. I won’t ever completely feel whole again until he’s back here with me. Babies in general are difficult but when you add 2 to that equation plus 6 weeks premature that is an awful lot for 1 person to take care of. Pretrty much my world now revolves around them. They are the only little men in my life that I will allow to boss me around. HA HA!!  I’ll send along some more pics from the hospital and some current ones of the boys at home. Hope all is well with your family too!!!!

Sarah

First, do not be alarmed. My wife and I do Not send our daughter to school with her hair looking like this. At least, not always.

But today is a little different. You see, it was Whacky Hair Day at her school. And that was right up my alley. Let me explain.

My wife leaves for work very early in the morning so I take our daughter to school. I can get her clothes together, cook her any kind of breakfast, and handle any kind of “drama” a four year old can create. But one thing I can NOT do is her hair. I try. I really do. Ponty tails? Nope. Braids? Don’t even think about it. And those ribbons and bows? I’d be better off assembling a car for the Indy 500. But since today was “Whacky Hair Day”, all had to do was, well, what I normally do no matter how hard I try. Manage to make it look bad.

When we got to school her hair was a hit. “Oh Kennedy. We love your hair,” her teachers said while she beamed. I told them “Look, you’ve seen what her hair looks like when I try to fix it. But whacky hair? That I can do!” They were laughing but, unfortunately I am serious.

So, beginning this weekend, my wife Valarie is taking me to “Hair Bootcamp.” She says she’s teaching me just a couple of basic styles that, after a little practice (yeah right) I should be able to master. But at least today, I got it right. Whacky Hair. That, I can do!!! The proof is in the picture.

TRACKSIDE TRISH

Hi everyone!!

First, I have to second Todd’s comment that it’s easy to get caught up in all the excitement at the track. I was out there with my family watching qualifying last weekend, and again today for Community day. (Here’s my son Calvin - notice that although his little league team is the White Sox, I proudly wore my pink Cubs hat!!)

I have a few photos to share from Community Day at the RTV6 tent - here’s Renee, a devoted blog reader and contributor, and an IUPIU communications student. Thanks for coming to say hi!

This is a Speedway employee named Mary Jo who went way out of her way to let me know how much she appreciates our TV station. It means a lot to hear from people like her. I appreciate your enthusiasm, MJ! She’ll be working near Turn 3 Sunday.
Can’t wait for Sunday.

WORKING MOM QUESTION

A very sweet viewer named Alicia from Avon emailed me a question that really has my mind spinning. (Here she is with her husband and daughter 6 weeks after she was born)

I told Alicia I wanted to take some time coming up with a really thorough and honest answer, since it’s such a big and personal topic. Since it’s something many others have asked me about over the years, I thought I’d put my thoughts in this more public place. Sorry they’re not more artfully expressed, as always I am pushed for time so this will have to do!

Here’s the email Alicia sent:

Read the rest…

I have to admit I am getting hooked on all of the festivities leading up to the big race on Sunday. Last week, I had the pleasure of riding in a two-seater as we whipped around the track at 180 mph. Today, it was all about changing tires. A few of my RTV 6 coworkers and I (including 6 news sports anchor/reporter Brad Brown) participated in the Pit Stop Competition. Basically, it was a race with other media personalities from television, radio and print, to see who could change an Indy car tire the fastest. Everyone on our team was a rookie.

We took on the the “Smiley Morning Show on W-Z-P-L. And guess what? We won!!! Believe me when I say no one was more surprised than we were. But it’s funny what happens when you taste a little victory. By stage two, our confidence was soaring. And we won again!!!

Now this is getting serious. What started out as a simple and fun competition was really heating up. After all, we advacned to the semi-finals. And “Open -Wheel Wallace” was getting confident (ok, a little cocky) that we might just win the whole thing.

But alas, the breaks were slammed on our dreams. We fell to eventual champs from “hank-fm” none other than the ‘Wank & O’Brien show’. We came Oh so very close.

The real winner is Habitat for Humanity. $1000 was donated to that wonderful organization. But trust me when I say that “Open-Wheel Wallace” is determined to help RTV 6 be the team to present that check….. next year.