Behind the wall.

Despite my rendezvouses with the porcelain bowl lately, life's been far from doom & gloom.

I checked another gem off my hypothetical nonexistent bucket list and watched a NASCAR race from the pits.

Friend of a friend (the best kind of stories always start this way, no?) owns a team and invited us along for a weekend of up close and personal racing fun. Well, twist my arm.

Needless to say, as I was sitting in the ER Saturday afternoon, a tiny (huge) part of me was hoping they would release me so I could still go to the race Sunday.

The ER doc heard my wishes and Sunday morning I walked through these pearly gates. It was a pretty cool experience all around. I've been in the garages and pits, but always returned to the grandstands for the actual race.

Never have I gotten to listen to the national anthem or watch the flyover while standing on the track.

Never have I been able to watch the green flag drop while in the pit lane wall.

Never have I witnessed a pit stop from 6 feet away while leaning up against a stack of tires. I've also never had that much fun at the Brickyard. Anyone who has been knows it's a pretty boring race, so seeing it from a different point of view in the pits spiced it up a bit.

I'd also like to think our driver had the best tuxedo racing suit I've ever seen, hands down!