Home of the Loud Family

Everyone has a place that they feel at home: church, studio, theatre, workplace. What defines home, for me, is a place where you can 100% relax, connect, and feel...well, to go all Oprah on you: Centered.

So, one of the loudest places on the planet is my center. For me, it's where everything fades away, where everyone knows my name, where I can breathe. (yes, I totally see the contradiction in that)

The racing community is fairly insular. Racers are friends and friends are racers. Many racers stay at the racetrack so everyone is together for a 48 hour period, at least, for many weekends over the spring, summer & fall seasons. If one racer has a problem, it often becomes a shared burden.

Because we've been racing the Seattle organization, we haven't seen our Canadian friends as much as we would like. When racing at our "home" track, I felt like Norm in Cheers while walking the lanes. Familiar faces & friends everywhere.

When we raced in Las Vegas last year & just now, I discovered that it's actually the community of racers rather than the location of racers. Although just about every racer we know was at the race this weekend, we still made another handful of friends.

Kevin has a friend that lives in Missouri whom he has spent hours on the telephone & internet but hasn't actually met in person. Because of him, Kevin met two other racers this weekend, further cementing their friendship. While thinking about it, I guess one could relate the racing community to Facebook...friend suggestions, friend searches, and friending complete strangers.

So now begins the long winter. We won't be back at the track until Spring, April at the earliest. Time for hibernation is upon us. In the meanwhile, we have the phone and internet to keep in touch.

When the sun comes around again, I can soak up the warmth of it, and of my friends, at home.