Driver's Ed

While driving the snaky road down and back up again from Devil's Lake State Park's south shore, I was reminded recently of my mom learning how to drive.  At age 40, she decided that it was time to have her own wheels and the only way she was going to achieve such independence was for her to learn how to drive.  We lived in the country and my dad traveled extensively for his work, so Mom and I relied on taxis, neighbors and the school bus for transportation.  It wasn't an ideal situation: driving was the better alternative. With Dad as her instructor, the two of them would drop me off at friends' homes while they did some on-the-road training.  One summer Saturday evening, however, close to the time when she was going to try for her license, Mom and Dad had nowhere in particular to take me so, saddled with me, they ventured out with Mom behind the wheel.  That particular evening, we took the snaky South Shore road down and up.  Dad was calm and collected and Mom drove beautifully, though tense from all of the sharp curves and heavy traffic all around her.  I, at the ripe ol' age of 8, thought it was all a great adventure as I played with my dolls in the backseat.  In the end, Mom got her license, got a car and from then on, it seemed as if we were never home!  Mom had wheels and we had fun!