LEARNING TO DRIVE
How did you learn to drive? Or, would you rather forget that moment of your life?
Driving is not an at-birth ability. It is a specialized type of knowledge we acquire, usually with guidance of a parent, sibling or stranger. If you have a choice, take the stranger. We need to acquire such an ability to get along in this modern world. Often, we base our very continued existence on how well we learn to perform the simple task, too.
I remember when my Dad first drove a car. It was in 1924. He had bought a brand new Ford touring car - black, naturally, because that was the only color Mr. Ford made them in, and as a new car owner he was expected to drive the machine. A major part of the sales talk, then was a promise for the dealer to to teach you to drive.
The affable sales per person drove the new car to the gas pump and as a free gift to go with the purchase. He then urged Dad into the driver's seat and explained the procedure one-two-three. Dad was a quick learner and he started off into the highway with amazing ease ...just a bit of gear grinding, but that, he was assured, that would stop in time. He drive to the East end of town, circled the block and started back to the garage. Along the way, his instructor had him stop and park several times which were pretty much the same thing, because there were only a few other cars on the road .With those subtle tasks taken care of, they went by the garage where Dad “dropped the salesman off”. Dad then drove across town to our apartment, where we were waiting, he knew, to take our first family-style drive. My sister, Margaret, was an infant in mother's arms and did not have any comment. We were all experienced riders, of course, because my Uncle Andrew had a massive Saxon touring car in which we had ridden many times.
We two boys, I remember, were were pleased and proud of our Dad, at the wheel as we looked for people we knew to whom we could call to make sure they saw us riding. Dad did very well, too and I have often thought of his haphazard training. He drove until he was ninety - something; went down renew his license once; did so, and turned the piece of plastic in a the very next window. He realized he was, as he put it,”too to be out there on the highway with all those crazy people!”
A.L.M. April 29, 2003 [c641wds] .
