This morning Erika let us in on her secret desire to race cars. Yeah, I don't really have that one. Probably because I got my fill of drag racing both street and legal several years ago. My senior year in high school I met my first serious boyfriend. He went to another school, was one year younger and raced cars. We dated off and on (mostly on) for 5 years. This meant long distance while I was in college and summers spent with cars. I did car shows, ran from cops in rural quarter miles and inhaled gas & nitrous fumes for hours while waiting for his turn on the track. I loved him and by default I loved what made him happy. We even talked about what kind of car to build for me to race. Oh the wasted youth in fast food parking lots while people talked trash and never got the guts to race. Or when these delicate machines would break and leave us on the side of the road until help arrived. For Prom instead of a limo we drove his 1984 black Mustang show car. It ended up overheating and he had to vent it into the car. Can I tell you how delicious I looked in those pictures? It was years later when he admitted the gauge was wrong and I had suffered for nothing.
He was a great guy but sometimes in life you are faced with making serious choices on a grown up scale. After I graduated from college and returned home I knew it was time. Just because you love someone doesn't mean you are supposed to be together. We were headed in different directions and it wasn't fair to hold on to him. We broke up and shortly thereafter I became friends with Tom. But hey don't feel sorry for him. He began modeling and shortly thereafter dated several models. So he did okay too.
But our time remains a part of my history. I get smile when I see a similar Mustang or 1971 Camaro. I once blew a 16 year old client's mind when I correctly identified the tire tracks left on the street in front of his house. And when I see those young girlfriends patiently waiting for their boyfriends to shut up and race, I know.
Hey, I still drive a pretty mean go-cart when I'm not pregnant.