Upcoming weekend

So, it's a cold and snowy week here in the northeast, and while the fun cars are pretty much tucked away for the winter, we still have things to talk about.

1) All the activity in Daytona means 1 thing... racing is back again! Between the Motorcycles, NASCAR's various events and the 24 Hours of Daytona, there's just about any kind of racing for someone to enjoy. This weekend is the 24hr race, and to ME, that means it won't be long until we all get to go back outside and play.

2) This is 2010, but the local region's end-of-season awards banquet is coming up this weekend. Kim is coming into town to join me in the festivities. This is the 1st time I'm attending where I'm actually going to be recieving something. I won a tropy for my class this year. I even came very close to being in the top 10 in the points chase ( ended up in 13th ).
This is all very alien to me. I'm not one that really has ever pushed to be good at anything outside of work. I've tried to NOT marginalize my efforts and enjoy what few accolades or 'atta-boys' that I've gotten this past year. To me,a win isn't a win just because you took 1st. If you take 1st and there's little or NO competition to run against, there's not much to say "yay me" about. Now, I'm not saying I didn't work my butt off to get there, but I also didn't have the top guys or anyone really serious come play in my sandbox on a regular basis.
We have 10 events in the year, and you only need 6 of them to qualify your points. Out of those 10 events I did 7 and of those 7 I think I only 'won' three times. The other 5 events I had people co-driving my car or I ran alone. On those ones where I had a co-driver, I was beat in my own car each time.
It's hard for me to accept anything that I really didn't 'win'. People have been saying "It's not YOUR fault that no one ran in your class, so take the win and enjoy it". Anyone that knows me knows that I'm not like that.

So.. in a few months a new season will start and I WILL have someone to run against, as one of our really good drivers has bought himself a Z06 as well and we'll see just what I can do with that.

Back to the weekend. As I said, Kim will be in town. This is her 1st visit here since October and I'm hoping that it will end better than the last time. I got very spoiled earlier in the month since we got 1 whole week together, and then 4 days later had a weekend together. Now it's been 2 weeks and it feels like forever. Yeah, I know that's kinda sappy and all that, but it's true. I have NO problem admitting that. I miss her. I can tell that there's some strain on her end with the distance still being there, and I understand it. I wish I knew a quick and easy fix for it, but right now we're just trying to get thru each period and deal with things as they come up.
Staying the course is never easy. Standing firm to what you want and need even if it means that things get tough now and then is harder. Giving in to the quick and easy solutions aren't hard even if you know that you want more for yourself. We all get tempted by that, but it's the faith that we all have within to be there each day and stick it out is what proves our feelings, our committment and our love to someone. It would be easy to write things off and say "That's enough, I'll just find someone closer", someone that might be more convenient or easy, but it woudln't be the same. It wouldn't be "the one" I want and that grass isn't ever any greener it's just grass from a different yard.
Long distances suck. They test your inner strength, your will power and your faith in someone else. It takes ALOT of trust to love someone from 500 miles away. Trust that they are being true, trust that they mean what they say and that they aren't just using you. When you are with someone that shares your same area code, it's easy to keep those things in check. When you aren't.... it's all about trust.
I trust Kim with my life. My Heart. My Soul. Never before have I had that ability, or the opportunity to be that way with someone.
Life is uncertain ( I've said that before for those of you keeping track on the scorecards ) and maybe tomorrow something will happen that will change everything. Maybe 5 years from now, things will be the same. We just have no idea, and the more we try to control, sway, or bury our head in the sand about that fact, the worse off we all are. I don't know where 'we' will be a month from now, or a year, or 5 years. I CAN tell you where I want to be... and that should be pretty obvious by now.