February 20, 2007
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Sure you can drive…..(aaackkkk)
I’m hurrying the kids along. “Are you ready?” “Did you close and lock the back doors?” “Did you turn off the lights up stairs?” — you know the usual pre-exit dialogue that involves me harassing the girls into leaving the house sometime within the 15 minutes or so of our deadline.
Then it comes.
The dreaded question.
“Can I drive mom?”
ACK! Church is 30+ minutes away. It’s on a two lane divided highway, a windy twisty not well maintained road, through construction and into a town that has traffic at all times. Rapidly I start the mental skimming required to find just the right excuse to put her off. It’s too far. It’ll be dark soon. You haven’t driven in ______ <insert driving condition here> yet. We won’t have time because we have to get to church by 5:30.
A frantic look at the clock assures me that if leave right now we have 45 minutes to make the drive. DANG. I open my mouth to protest and out comes “Sure, if we leave right now we can do it” and thanks to all my previous harassment we are ready to leave….right now.
We get in the car. My heart is in my throat and I am wondering how I can call this off. I’ve never been the supervising parent for a driving expedition yet, it’s always been hubby. Why? Because it’s a known fact that I have no patience and I tend to overreact. I’m remembering my first driving experience with my mother. It went something like this:
Me — starts car and backs out, drives half a block before coming too close to the curb
Mom — <Screaming hysterically> Oh My God — Watch the curb!! BRAKE!! You’re going to fast!! Watch the <insert every item you might see on a street>! AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!
We get home — we are both in tears, and I go up to my father and exclaim:
“Dad, if you don’t teach me how to drive then I’m never going to learn, because I WON”T ever drive with her again!” — (runs off bawling).
With this scenario going through my mind I anxiously settle myself into the passenger seat and buckle up for the ride. And you know what? She did just fine. And guess what else? I did just fine! I got a little nervous once when she ran off my side of the road a little – where there was absolutely no shoulder, and I made her a little tense, but together we got there in one piece and on time! I felt very proud of both her and myself when we walked into church exactly at 5:30, the 30 minute drive took us 45 minutes.
Later as we were leaving and she asked “Can I drive?” I didn’t even flinch — even though it was already dark out, I just handed her the keys.
We made it home just 3 minutes before my husband, who left church 15 minutes after we did. What can I say? They have speed limits for a reason, my hubby just doesn’t know what that reason is!!
Question of the day:
Who taught you to drive?
Comments (21)
i get to go through this soon ….. glad you did so well
my stepmom was actually the one who taught me to drive….on a stick shift no less
have a great day sweetie!!!!!
Great post! My mom did the same thing to me when I was learning to drive and I swore I’d never do it to my kids. But when my daughter almost sideswiped a car I admit, I did yell and after that I was nervous riding with her.
My son drives great. I have no problem riding with him except that he stops a lot more sudden than I do. I usually either gasp or start pumping the imaginary brake on my side but I get through it just fine.
I was lucky enough to be able to take driver’s ed in school, so no parent had to teach me. Glad you had a reasonable experience on the other side of the steering wheel! My experiences were much more harrowing. I think I wore out that invisible passenger side brake! LEFT turn on red???!!! NooOOoooOOoo!
God Bless You! My mother had an indention in the floorboard of the passenger side from putting on the “brakes” for me. I think my Daddy rode with me twice before I got my license. Fortunately for me, drivers ed was a small class and we got to drive a lot. Glad you are not in a really busy city for this learning experience!
Oh, oh and oh. Driving with teens is hell on earth. I got my drivers license when I was 16, and that was perfectly acceptable at the time. I think something happened over the years, because that’s far too young nowadays.
Trish
I am so proud of you. I know that is how I am going to be. At 14 Andrew is already driving with Ed but I can’t even watch him pull out of the driveway. It scares the heck out of me. Thankfully we have another year to go. Yay.
My mom would do the same thing. Phantom cars jumping out in front of us and she would be all freaked out. I would be like “where”? She would say down there? Down there? Those cars are 40 miles away. She would flinch at any moving or not object. My dad was just as bad. The school taught me how to drive. :big-smile: Have a great day and glad you made it safe from church.
I remember the days teaching my son………………….LOL……fun fun……..LOL:big-smile::celebrate:
Oh, man, I’m not looking forward to that, and it happens this June. You are very brave. My mom taught me to drive, but I was last of 4 kids, and she was completely insane by then and didn’t mind my driving at all. My second sister almost parked the car on our front porch her first time out, which was a 45 degree turn off of the driveway.
drivers ed, but not well. You did bring me flash backs of driving with daughter :hammer: scary stuff, I still don’t like when my kids have the drivers seat.
RYC: It ends Thursday. They usually put up a new challenge every Friday. Please enter if you have some cool abstract photos!
My uncle taught me. But I was 21 at the time, driving my own car, which made me much more careful than my attempt at driver’s ed. when I was 16, LOL!
You captured how I acted when my daughters first started driving to a “T”. I remember actually having chest pains when the first daughter changed lanes without using her mirrors and looking at her blind spot-she just swerved over to the next lane. I think I started sweating as I read this… lol! Then I remember when I would clean out my purse while they drove me to wherever we needed to go… you do eventually relax.
I went to drivers ed. No one would take me out driving, they didn’t have time.
I remember the first time I took Tony out drving :what: I’ll say a prayer for you! :wink-wink:
Well done!! I’m terrified for that milestone. Thank heavens I’ve got a while still before that day!
I went to driver’s ed. My dad probably coached me the most outside of my drivers ed class. I was a total novice and a complete moron behind the wheel to begin. I nearly gave my parents a heart attack once when I turned left in front of oncoming traffic from the opposite direction. I had NO sense of depth perception and oncoming traffic speed. Thinking back on that totally scares me for the future when my own kids are behind the wheel!
oh wow you are soo brave! Lol Im glad to hear that she did great! Your mom sounds like my mom! She still does that today! She does it to everyone.My friends and dad tought me how to drive. I dont know how im going to act when Jordan starts doing that. He’s taking driver ed now. Have a great day
I feel for you sister! You have no idea how much “story” we could talk about this subject!….Fortunately, and sadly, we no longer have to drive with Sarah, she has her license and her own wheels, so now the worry is where is she and when will she be home?!
Good luck to you!
Both of my parents taught me. I remember my first trip with both of them… my Dad took out his briefcase and started studying something and making notes… my mom pulled some knitting out of her bag. Later they admitted that they did those things so they didnt have to think about me driving. It probably helped that I had older sisters that made them almost pull all their hair out.
Good luck!!!
My Dad taught me to drive………..hope you are having a great week………….:big-smile:
my daddy taught me to drive…..in a brown 1969 Buick Skylark…..
thanks for you kind words and thoughts….. :wink-wink:
My learning-to-drive experience was a whole lot like yours. My mom took me out and she couldnt handle it. She had no patience and completley overreacted. I literaaly only went around the block and she forced me to go back home! The only difference is that rather than me saying I needed someone else to teach me – she said it! Lol. She refused to, said she just couldnt do it. My best friend’s father actually taught me : )