Mama,
I had a girlfriend who once told me "you never go to work", you always say "sorry, I can't cause tomorrow I have to fly".
As doubleu-anker says, drive and determination is what counts and that should never be discouraged in any endeavor.
By far the cheapest and perhaps the easiest place to do this is the U.S. I'm not saying the best but one can maybe move into an instructor position to really learn and build time.
Baring a depression and complete implosion of air travel, demographically the future looks bright as the majority of people on these boards will have retired.
Take a look at
www.airlinepilotcentral.com and see what the retirement rates are for the major U.S. carriers which most likely mirror global rates.
By the way, I have a daughter the same age who wants to do the same, I give her the same advice.