Memorial Box- Driver's License

Boy what a yucky day in Seattle. I'm sick, it's gray outside, steady rain (the kind you actually get WET in, which is unusual here actually) and general blah.

On to my story. I do a lot of driving. Whenever Tim and I are together, I'm the driver. Partly because I get carsick if it's a long distance, partly because Tim prefers to be on his phone navigating and "researching", and partly because he has some depth perception issues that tire him out more easily than the average "well seeing" person. So I'm fine with being the designated driver. My sister doesn't have a license, my (ex)nanny doesn't have a license. So as I was taking them (sister and nanny) home at different times this week, I reflected on this gift I have. Some people may not see being able to drive a car as a gift. But I do, and here's why. I had very little exposure to being allowed to learn how to drive as a teenager. I took driver's education, but got very little "behind the wheel" time. Mostly because we had "stick shift" cars, but also because there was a lot of anxiety around driving in my home. Some normal "anti-teen" driving, but also some not so normal anxiety. My mentor Carolyn who lived 2 doors down, and was our high school youth group leader gave me some lessons to fill in the gaps. But I never got good enough to take the test.

Then we moved to Washington, and it just wasn't top priority for anyone in the family to get me my license. My 18th birthday came and went, and there was still little hope that I would "ever" get this "rite of passage". But then a kind man came into the picture. Dean Allen. He posted a job with the high school counselor for someone to come babysit his elderly mother who lived with him and his wife. His mother, 94 years old, had Alzheimer's and Dean had kept her with him instead of a nursing home. Even though Dean and Ann were in their 70s themselves, they needed SOME breaks in her care to go out on dates, and be free for a few hours a week! So I took the job, and he would come pick me up and take me home and I learned SOO much from meeting them. Most of that is for a different story. But Dean took a tiny bit of interest in helping me, partially "self serving" so he didn't have to come pick me up every week perhaps. He decided it was high time for me to get my driver's license and he took me down and let me use HIS (automatic) truck to take the test. I passed, and got my very first driver's license that day, thanks to a kind man who shared his posessions with me for an hour, to benefit my life. What a gift.

There seems to be a small window of opportunity for some things in life, that if you don't grab it then it gets harder and harder to overcome the obstacle or fear or interest. I don't know what other things might have lined up for me to be able to take the test. I'm just saying that thanks to Dean Allen, I got a great start in my driving life. I even found that first license in my stash of keepsakes, so I'll transfer it to my purty glass memorial box. I won't post a picture of it, partly because my camera needs to be recharged, and partly because it has important identity facts on there that I don't want stolen! haha.