This post is about 9 months too late…Or maybe 35 years too late.

As a little girl who grew up in many countries, some of which where it was illegal for women to drive, I remember spending hours and hours drawing pictures of a woman, driving a race car, wearing a helmet. Every fiber of my little third grader being burned with an intense need for speed.

The adults would ask me “Who is that a picture of?”  I would always reply “I don’t know.”

I’m a mom of 3 teen/tween-agers who… with a big gulps and a huge deep breath…… bought myself an dream machine high performance car almost a year ago. I found the money by digging into my old retirement account and selling gold jewelry that I was never going to wear.

After years of hoping I would outgrow the urge to drive on a track, I finally understood…It was an itch that HAD to be scratched.  In March 2014, at the age of 45 I had my first day on track. I took my Porsche 911 Carrera up to the Virginia International Raceway and began my bumpy, sleep-deprived, controversial and thrilling journey to learn high performance driving.

Since then I have attended 9 High Performance Drivers Education (HPDE) events.

My wonderful sweet husband and amazing kids have been so supportive! My friends in the Hurricane Region Porsche Club of America have been unbelievably welcoming and generous in sharing knowledge and providing encouragement.

Since March of this year, I have learned about my limits and how I’m capable of far more than I ever imagined, while at the same time being humbled by having to re-discover, painfully, the frustrating path of incremental growth as a student. This is similar to when I gave birth to each of my children–The amazement at the love I felt for them and  being humbled by the stunning amount of work, dedication, hours that I have happily put forward for my family. Not to mention the piles and piles and piles of laundry that I have been doing ever since then!

My progress is greater than I had ever imagined in my dreams. And at the same time, being 35 years behind schedule, I’m frustrated at myself for taking so long to get into Black or Red run groups. Still, it’s not all lost perhaps… after 6 months, I have progressed to the Blue Run group (Intermediate). I don’t know how far this journey will take me, or how long it will take. But, I’m curious enough to follow the path.