"Mom. That is so embarrassing."

Silence for a couple of more seconds as she watches a few more frames. Mary Grace's hand is over her mouth. Then, when she sees the clip from the high school gym, her hands fly to her cheeks and she says, "You did not do that...how embarrassing!"

Yep. I did it. And my partner in crime? My dear friend, Marla Roweton Kemp, God love her.

The first seeds of my adventure were planted when our clan started watching The Amazing Race together on Sunday evenings. I love to travel, and I'm a smidge competitive - both of which are prime ingredients of this particular reality show. Our family would cuddle together in the family room, munch on popcorn and/or ice cream, pick our favorite teams and then cheer them through the various road blocks and detours - always predicting how we would do if we were in the same situation.

I could often be heard exclaiming, "I want to be on The Race!"

Well, wanting to be on The Race, and actually applying to be on The Race, are two different things entirely. I can hardly believe I actually followed through and really applied - but in 2006, that's exactly what I did. And sweet Marla was willing to take a month off and go with me if we made it!

Obviously, we weren't chosen, and when you watch our application video, you can probably guess why.

But I don't regret applying at all.

It was a blast to talk about applying and then to really do it! We backed up our talk with action!

It was also a blast making this video. Marla and I have laughed a ton over it.  And we all know what laughter does for you...

^"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine..." Proverbs 17:22

And believe it or not, the time after we sent the application in and before the deadline set for choosing the teams, was actually a fun time. It was that time of potential. We might be chosen - probably not - but we might be. Somebody has be chosen! It could be us. It was exciting.

I share this post for three reasons.

I've got The Amazing Race on the brain because it starts back up this Sunday. We've already set our DVR.

Secondly, I just wanted to provide a smile or giggle to anybody who takes the time to watch the video. Don't feel bad if you find yourself agreeing with Mary Grace.

And thirdly, I wanted to publicly declare that I've been blessed by God with true blue friends - one of which is featured here. She loves, encourages, cries, and laughs with me. She always speaks truth to me. And she's willing to doing crazy (albeit harmless) stunts with me! That, dear readers, is a friend!

And if I want to keep her as my friend, I'll end here and give her a call. She needs to know what is about to debut on the world wide web!

It's Amazing!