That was then:
I learned to drive in 1978. I was never a terrible driver. But I guess I haven’t always been the best driver either. Regardless, my mother was always a nervous passenger. Everytime we were 5-6 car lengths behind another car or 15 yards before a stoplight she would grab the dashboard or make a sharp inhaling noise. I kept telling her she wasn’t helping my confidence any. She finally stopped jumping everytime an object appeared in her line of sight. Unfortunately, she replaced this nervous bahavior with another. She began reading every road sign outloud and, if that wasn’t bad enough (I could always tune her out) she would ask for confirmation that that’s what the sign said if I didn’t comment. Did you know that on a particular section of 19th Ave in San Francisco the cross streets are in alphabetical order? Yeah, “now I know my abc’s backward, forward, forward, backward, sideways, upsidedown, in a box, with a fox while eating green eggs and ham with Jan-I-Am. I don’t think anyone can imagine what this must be like unless you’ve driven with someone who reads road signs all the way from California to Washington State and back.
This is now:
Fast forward to today. Mom called me last night to ask if I thought it was ok for her to drive herself again. She hadn’t driven since her bout in the hospital. I asked her what she thought. She said she thought she was ok. She was only going a couple miles down the road to have breakfast with her friends. Ok, I said, try it. She doesn’t know that I was driving behind her the whole way. She later drove to my office so we could go to an appointment together. It’s true what they say about parents and children reversing roles. I hung on for dear life the entire trip as she sped up and slowed down and cross the center line and weaved into the shoulder. “Should I go through this stoplight, she would ask, or turn here?” I felt compelled to say, “Mom, after you STOP at the stoplight and AFTER it turns green, you need to go straight.” I just didn’t know what she was going to do next. Now I know how she felt when I was a young driver.
One more thing I think she will have to forego. We’ve got a great bus system. They stop right outside her front door. Now we just need to teach her how to use it.
Guess what mom? With all the money you’ll be saving on insurance, car repairs and gas, AND cigarettes, you can take me shopping! I love you!
