Driving Lesson

April 26, 1998

Well, it wasn't my first, but it's been so long since I was last behind the wheel that it might have been. When I was about sixteen, Mom took me to an empty parking lot in her manual transmission car, intending to teach me how to drive. Well, she didn't explain how to manage the clutch and gears all that well... or I just didn't have enough time to figure it out, but I never actually went anywhere last time. Mom made me nervous, and I made her nervous, and she called an end to the lesson before it really got started.

Today, I was out in the yard, messing around and watering some of the plants, when she came out and said to come up front, she wanted to show me something. She had a chair cushion in her hand, and put it in the driver's seat and told me to get in. Because of my scoliosis, my torso is about seven inches shorter than it ought to be, and even with the cushion, I couldn't really see the front end of the car at all. She added my cushion from the passengers' seat and I tried it again... not perfect, but it worked. Fortunately, my legs are long enough to reach the pedals anyway.

She drove us to an abandoned parking lot, and I guess I spent the next half hour or so getting used to driving. I came a little close to a light pole at one point, and I don't think I ever got above five miles an hour, but I did get better at turning and stopping and all as I had more practice. Mom said to let her know when I was ready for the another lesson, so maybe I will actually learn and get my license sometime before the end of the millenium *chuckle*

Sorry I haven't written or posted anything in a while; I just haven't known what to write about. I've been cross-stitching like a maniac for the past week and more, and besides that, I haven't done a whole lot.

Jevim's been rather busy with projects and homework and studying and all that, and I got to feeling kind of neglected last week, but with a little prodding from an outside source, we did get it talked out. He's spent more time with me this weekend -- he was busy with getting a project finished up last weekend -- and I'm feeling better. I think PMS had a major hand in my reaction this last week, but I didn't realize that was what it was until after the fact.

A couple sad and troublesome things happened this past week, too. One of my friends from a newsgroup, the one whose husband had a stroke and a bicycle accident just a month or two ago, learned that her cancer has come back, and so she has to go in for yet another surgery soon. She was on IRC for a bit Friday night, and she doesn't know when yet, but hopefully it will go well. And then, as if that wasn't enough, another of the group members had a four year old goddaughter who was paralyzed by an airbag in a car accident last summer. Just a couple nights ago, the shunt that allowed fluid on her brain to drain shifted in the night, and pressed against her brain stem. Friday morning, little Kelsey was gone. *sigh* I can't help but think of the saying about things coming in threes, and I wonder what will be next.

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