Next Monday is my 86th birthday. I’m in good health and just passed the eye test and maneuvering my car to renew my Illinois driver’s license for two years. Those are reasons enough to celebrate with my family. Nothing gives me the feeling of freedom like getting behind the wheel of our dark blue, 2005 Chrysler sedan and heading where I want to go.
Dad and Mom taught me to drive our 1952, black-over-maroon, 2-door Chevrolet. It was our first new car and had been made to our order including an automatic transmission. I preferred having only one of them with me for a training session. When both of them were along, I often heard one say, “Turn left at the next corner,” but the other would chime in, “No, go straight.”
I remember passing my first driver’s test seventy years ago when I turned 16. Butterflies were square dancing in my stomach when my parents took me to the Secretary of State’s Office on North Main Street in Rockford. I had studied “The Rules of the Road” booklet from cover to cover because there was a written questionnaire I needed to pass before the examiner took me out for a drive. I had practiced parallel parking and the proper way to turn the front wheels when stopping on a hill.
I expected that license would be my ticket to independence, but not much changed. My father didn’t want his little girl driving alone at night. When I had something going on at school in the evening, he continued to take me and waited until I was ready to go home. To pass the time, he enjoyed visiting with Howard who was working at Spelman’s Oil Station until closing time at 9 p.m.
I was allowed to take the car by myself only during daylight hours. Then, it had to be something important such as a dental appointment–no joy riding and no taking passengers.
Do you enjoy driving?