Driving

I'm looking out at the sunshine, enjoying actually being able to breathe today. While the air hasn't been turned on yet in the building, the heat has been turned off. And that allows us to run that fan and circulate air, keeping the inside temp comfortable while also being able to close the windows. Up here with all kinds of trees outside our windows really accentuates this spring's “pollen vortex”.

It was good to hear responses on yesterday's blog from people who have found a few spring mushrooms. That's such a positive sign of spring.

Older daughter texted me a couple of photos last night. The 5-year-old whirlwind is graduating from day care/preschool next month, and the photos of her were in her cap and gown. Talk about time flying – it seems like yesterday she was just a tiny baby. And here she is, in her cap and gown with a pose that makes her look so much older that 5. Grandma's just not ready for that. And the reality is that in just three short years we'll be attending high school graduation for both grandsons.

My graduation felt so long in coming. There were a lot of aspects of high school that I really wasn't comfortable with. Add in the longing I had to see something – anything! - outside the borders of Carroll County, and time seemed like it just crawled. I always felt like I was in the wrong class at school, the friends I felt closest to were in the class ahead of me. So I felt really left behind when they graduated.

I remember agonizing over the choice of which college I wanted to attend. And one of the things that weighed heavily in my decision was transportation. Dad was always afraid I would hurt myself, and he never wanted me out running around on the weekends with other kids my age. And so I graduated high school without having a driver's license. This meant I was always dependent on someone else for transportation. And Dad wasn't comfortable driving many places.

All this factored in my decision to attend a small private college just 45 minutes from home. It was in a small town that Dad was comfortable driving in. And three members of that class a year ahead of me were attending there. I figured in a pinch I could always catch a ride home somehow.

It amazes me now to look back and realize how much that one decision and everything that factored into it changed my life. Everything since that point in my life has sprung from that one seemingly small decision. And that one decision was based on the fact that I didn't drive.

Our two grandsons are now 15. Neither of them seems to be very anxious to get their license. I think one of them is just procrastinating. The other one just didn't care if he ever learned to drive. He and I had a talk about that awhile back, and I could share with him how it felt not being able to be responsible for my own transportation. It even factored into what career I eventually chose. I like to think that maybe our talk had an impact on him, because it wasn't long after that when he got his permit. Now, if I could just figure out how to motivate the other one!

Like most farm kids, I actually learned how to drive on the farm well ahead of that magical age of 16. I took my written exam many times but never had the opportunity to progress from that. When I got married at age 20, one of the first things I did was take a written exam in Idaho on a dare from my new brother-in-law. Both of us passed, even though I'd never seen the Idaho Driver's Manual.

When we got settled in Wichita, I went in to take the written test for Kansas so I could get that permit and gear up for taking the driving exam......especially in a “big city”. I handed in my Idaho learner's permit as instructed – and I was shocked to receive back a full-fledged Kansas driver's license. I could only guess they didn't read the permit correctly and thought it was a temporary license.

I think Dad about had a heart attack when I wrote and told him that at long last I had my license......without taking a driving test. I can only hope I never have to.