Becoming a driver has made me into a panicky passenger...

"You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive." ~Author Unknown

*This post can also be titled, "Oh dear Goddess... am I becoming my MOTHER???!"*

The drive from home to work today was a harrowing experience... and I wasn't even the driver. In fact, the driver (my brother) probably considered it to be a regular driving experience. For me the drive was filled with thoughts of, 'why is he driving so fast?!' and 'why is he going so close to that car?!' and 'why didn't that crazy driver INDICATE before swerving in front of us/those other cars?!'.. there was a lot of holding on to the car seat/door handle... until I realised that I was freaking out. Then, the thought that filled my brain was simply, 'Oh dear Goddess, am I becoming mom?'.

My mom is an amazing woman but she's a very poor passenger. Very distracting. She will freak out at the slightest move of a crazy [Trini] driver. Trini drivers aren't known for being the most reasonable on the road. NYC taxi drivers have nothing on Trini drivers (trust me on this - I've been driven by both). My brother and I have often had to tell her to calm down... to stop 'mashing brakes' while she's in the passenger seat... to 'just breathe mom.. breathe'. I do not want to be such a passenger.

I've never been that way...until now, now that I have my own car and am a driver. For most of my life I've been a passenger - I didn't seriously start driving till 2009. I've been perfectly calm through car rides with crazy Trini taxi drivers, cousins learning how to drive, friends that race cars as sport and therfore like to race cars generally... I've never flinched.

Now though? Different story completely... Is it that I now know what it's like to be a driver? The need for constant awareness of what's happening around you, the fact that you're in a mechanical device that may or may not be having a good day, the fact that there are all sorts of things that can affect one and therefore one's driving...

Oy.

I must remember to breathe.

Be safe on the roads...

 

peace,

Ren