Ugh

Everyone that knows me knows how much I hate driving.  It has not always been this way, I used to love it, I would drive and drive and enjoy having the windows down in the spring and letting the wind whip through the car.  I used to love getting behind the wheel of the Jeep and going off road with me driving, in fact, I would rather do that than anything.  It was freedom!


My very first driving experience driving on  Mountain Off Road roads, was on Black Bear Pass, it was a thrill.  We still watch the video of it and laugh!


Then This happened, I was at work that day, a cashier at the Wal Mart.  It really freaked me out, but I continued driving, but it was now a chore.  We lived in a small town, so traffic was not that bad, unless it was Friday, the worst traffic seems to be on Friday, no matter where you are, except in the Mountains on the roads up there. 


Then we move back to Texas, and the motto used to be “Drive Friendly, the Texas way”, well maybe it still is, but not in the Metroplex!  Its like driving on the raceway at the Indy 500!  So I don’t drive….except to go very short distances, and that is not often…in fact before Monday I had not driven since February 2010 when I had to go to Wisconsin when my mother was in the hospital..unless its something I can’t avoid, like today.  Terry fell and messed up his knee on Sunday.  He really has trouble getting his leg up in the Jeep.  It can be done, but he cant lift it to depress the clutch.  Of course, we had been hoping that he would be able to drive by now, since we had an appointment at noon. 


He started off by saying he was sorry to have to ask me to do this, he knows….in fact, in one of his few lucid moments in 2009 in the hospital he asked how we got there…I told him I drove, he got this amazed look on his face, and said  “you drove?” in a tone that I knew meant he was shocked.


Off we went, to meet up with someone, with me behind the wheel, and not with the one hand on the wheel carefree driving style I used to have….both hands clamped around the wheel, in fact, I just checked my finger prints will be etched into that steering wheel forever, only taking a hand off when I needed to shift.  I had to relearn the Jeep, the steering is squirrely now, and I had to fight like a wrestler just to keep it on the road.


I will adjust, I just don’t want to drive again, ever.  I much prefer to ride in the passenger seat and be the Chief Navigator.