Natalie Decker: Smokeshow IG Model, Bikini-Area Grooming Enthusiast, Now Pregnant NASCAR Driver. Proving You Really Can Have it All.

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One of the oldest debates in American culture involves the ever-evolving role of women. That work/life balance every female of childbearing years has to decide for herself. Whether to set aside her career for the sake of starting a family, stay childless and keep aspiring achieve professional goals, or some combination of the two. It all comes down to how each individual defines success in this life. It's a discussion as old as the rise of free market capitalism, and as new as the current Presidential race. 

Well I'm happy to report there's one successful career woman who is celebrating becoming part of the conversation. Meet NASCAR's Natalie Decker, who's just announced she is what George Bailey referred to as "on the nest":

And she is making it clear that just because she drives turbo-powered land rockets in tight formations around sharp turns for a living, she's not retiring once she becomes a mom:

Source - Natalie Decker announced Wednesday she is expecting her first child with her husband, fellow NASCAR driver Derek Lempke. …

Decker responded to claims she’s retiring from competition, saying she intends to make a return behind the wheel in 2025. 

“I don’t owe anybody an answer for anything, but I want to make one thing clear once a race car driver always a race car driver. I’ll be back in the car in 2025,” Decker wrote. 

Far be it for me to tell anyone how to live their life and raise their family. I can only say that in my personal experience, being married to a woman who went back to her life in the theater was when our boys were young was the best decision for her and for them. It was a pure good for them to see that, while nothing was more important to their mother than them, she also had a life outside the home. That while they were the center of her world, they were not the entire thing. And that people she didn't even know wanted to cheer for her and acknowledge how talented she is. And in doing so, she brought joy to more than just her sons and husband. Granted, when, when she was doing The Sound of Music, it came with slim-to-zero possibility she'd slam into the wall of the Von Trapp house set in the middle of "The Lonely Goatherd" and burst into flame. But NASCAR is not for the faint of heart.  In motorsports, you've got to risk it to get the biscuit.

So it'll be fascinating to see how things unfold for the Deckers going forward. To read her own words, she's not going to be climbing behind the wheel until the kid is born. Doing a "Rubbing your baby bump is racing, son" thing. I mean, there's no reason to doubt she could. It's just a matter of whether she should. And I think all her fans like me support her decision on that. Just as long as she gets back on the track, and on the 'Gram as soon as she's able, then everybody wins.

Congratulations to the Decker family on this blessed event. And godspeed, both on and off the oval.