Curse of the Mellon

All of the makings of a legendary day were in place. Beautiful weather, an easy road trip to Richmond, premium parking and that was just the tip of the perfection iceberg.

BigSpot had a fancy suite at RIR filled with great people from SnagAJob.com.

A suite with a view so good it made me question whether sitting on top of the war wagon really was the best seat in the house. But only for a minute. Or two. Air conditioning may have made it three. But I digress.

Our favorite driver arrived for a little meet and greet. He handled the Q & A session like a pro--he made it look a little too easy actually. I was tempted to ask Brian if he knew how to make my high beams stay on in the Volvo, but a quick look from Drew told me that wouldn't really be appropriate.I swear that man can read my mind, but only when I'm up to no good. Not when I want him to bring me home a latte or rub my feet. Then it's all static. But I digress. Again.

 In hindsight, Drew was probably right on this one. I mean I wouldn't want to put my BFF on the spot like that. What!? He is so my BFF! No, I most certainly am not delirious. You don't believe me? Well, check it: 

Yes, I know that picture is blurry, but trust me when I tell you that hero card says: To my BFF LAURA. In silver sharpie no less.  What? You think I asked him to write that? What? Lo siento.No hablo ingles. (despite my dedication to Rosetta Stone)

So you can see the day was going spectacularly. Not that there weren't a couple bumps along the way.

I don't have any idea what I was doing/saying/thinking here, but trust my husband to capture the moment forever. And trust me to post it here for you all to laugh at--am I your BFF too? Thought so.

But anyway, as I was saying this day was going to go down in the books as one of those too good to be true kinda days. The stuff of fairy tales even.

I got a new photo to frame for Drew's desk.

I discovered a new NASCAR job opportunity to pursue.

I saw Kyle Busch walk by in a pink fire suit. And he didn't run me over this time, so that was a bonus.

Yes, all the dominoes were lining up for the perfect run. I could almost taste the checkered flag. And then without warning, something went wrong. Just as that last domino was about to be placed, something tipped the scale and the whole course came crashing down. Splat.

I thought the #11 guys moved fast during a routine pit stop, but that's nothing compared to how quickly they moved in Richmond Friday night. Before I could blink my eyes, the entire team was behind the wall working on the car. Thank goodness for Twitter or I'd have had no idea why.

No11BraunRacing: A whisp of smoke signals a broken fitting on an oil line for @bscottracing. The @BigSpotDotCom team will take it behind the wall for repair.

So frustrating! To work so hard and then have it all fall apart because of a single broken part. How could this happen? What could be behind such horrid luck? And then I remembered. How I wish I hadn't.

Someone--who shall remain anonymous for he knew not what he was doing--did this to the BigSpot car before the race.

See it over on the left there?

L.L. my initials. On the car. In silver sharpie. Like the mark of the devil since clearly I am misfortune incarnate. No more than that. I am cursed. Now, my dreams of a NASCAR career are really dead. Who's going to hire a girl who leaves a trail of broken oil lines in her wake?

At least I'll always have the memory of the perfect day that almost was.

Yes, there's always that.