as I was heading toward the Dollar Store this morning I ended up behind a Driver Training Car…

made me think of a number of things… George’s mom, who, when George’s dad died, decided that the bus was just fine for her so she never did drive… my mom, who in her late 50s decided she would learn to drive and get herself to the places she needed to go… she took lessons and went out and got that driver’s license… she was very proud of it and enjoyed the independence… the sad day when my dad had to admit it was too difficult for him to drive anymore and gave up the car keys… it was so hard for him to do…

I’ve been driving since I turned 16… at that time I bought a brand new car with my mom and dad and drove my dad to work every day… he had emphysema and driving took a lot of energy, and in the winter the cold was very hard on him… so, I drove him to work, and then myself to school… at the end of the day I would pick him up and bring him home… so, I’ve been driving for a long time…

a few weeks before George died I took the car to work… that was unusual, because if I needed a ride to or from work, and my regular ride wasn’t available, George would drop me off and pick me up…  one of my colleagues commented that they didn’t know I could drive…

our last drive through the park…

I remember how, when I was home with the girls, George would ride his bike or take the bus so that I wouldn’t be stuck at home…

George loved to drive… he often regaled me with stories of being out in the country with his dad in their big old boat of a car and practicing on ice, and gravel, and other strange conditions… and when we were in Halifax on a family vacation, he drove around the parking lot – literally in circles – he laughed about that for years…

when we were coming home from a visit to Calgary, I remember how he patiently sat beside me while I drove on the divided highway, after I got my nerve up because I abhorred highway driving…  I am sure he was gripping the door handle, but he never showed it…

he didn’t like it when I drove, not because I wasn’t a good driver, he just preferred his driving… so it was much easier for him to drop me off and pick me up than for me to take the car…

so it was funny when my colleague made that comment…

snowflake on car window…

of course now I can drive the car whenever I want, even when I don’t want, lol…