If you can't beat 'em...

There are all kinds of sports widows out there. Football, baseball, basketball, golf. The list could go on.

Each winter I become a sports widow. Skiing takes over Andy's life. If he isn't working in the ski shop he's on the slopes. And in the small amount of time he spends at home he tracks the weather patterns here and out west to see what ski conditions are going to be like so he can plan his next trip.

But summer is sacred. It's our time to spend together. He still works, but it's much less demanding and we take advantage of his extra free time as much as possible.

Until July.

Do you know what happens in July? Every year in July?

If you turn your television on for about five minutes I bet you could figure it out.

It's the Tour de France. And every year it takes over our home for a month.

I tried for a long time to fight it. Whenever the opportunity presented itself I would steer Andy's attention away from the race. But over the years that has become increasingly hard to do. And then last year I just gave up all together.

My choices were as follows: 1)Let Andy immerse himself in the month long cycling race and enjoy some "me time" or 2) Do my best to be interested in what's happening in the race and spend the time with Andy.

I chose option 2. I started to pay attention to the names of the racers. For once I was familiar with names other than Lance Armstrong. I considered it a great achievement that I understood what people were talking about when they said "peloton". I even managed to get into it a little.

After all. I married him and I knew when I did that he liked cycling and he loved the tour. So, for better or worse, I was NOT going to become a Tour de France widow. Four months out of the year was all I was giving up to any sport. It's called sacrifice people!

And so two days ago it started again.

We're spending our days watching the race. And watching recaps of each stage. And watching recaps of important moments in previous tours.

I'm not kidding. Last night we watched an old time trial from 2003. Seriously.

I guess it could be worse, and it isn't like I haven't subjected Andy to many things I like that he doesn't want to do.

Even so, this year's tour is kind of exciting for us and our little community.

Andy and I went to college with one of the cyclists. Brent Bookwalter (currently ranked 11th) shares our alma matter. How awesome is that?

Awesome for our little college and awesome for him. Way to go Brent! We're rooting for you!