Driving Miss Daisy

Someone lost their independence today.  You won't see it on the news...no one will be staging a protest.  There was no drama, no tug of war...it was just another "senior" giving up her license to drive.  It happens everyday - all over the world - but this time, it's personal.

It was my Mom who surrendered her car keys and shiny red car to us...nothing dramatic... more of a resignation that her eyes, memory and reflexes aren't what they used to be. And it's a good thing. Her safety and that of those on the road around her is too important.  Except why do I hear, in my head, the soundtrack of "Driving Miss Daisy", starring me, in the Morgan Freeman role and my Mom, playing the Jessica Tandy one?

My Mom was a late bloomer when it came to driving.  Maybe it was that way for many women back "then".  There was no getting your license when you were in high school, like now.   I'm pretty sure of that.  When my Mom started to drive, she was a young wife and mother.  Having groceries, bread and milk delivered to your doorstep sounds wonderful to me, now, but I bet my Mom had had enough of that and was anxious to get out and do things for herself.

I remember my Mom's driving lessons.  I was only about 6 years old but I recall it very clearly.  I seldom question my late Dad's wisdom, but piling three kids into the backseat of a car and heading out to old Ford Blvd to teach his very pregnant wife how to drive, wasn't his most shining moment.  It must have gone okay because no one was injured and Mom eventually got her license.

It's funny how so much is attached to that piece of plastic (although a license was just paper back then)   The freedom to pick up and take off...to do your own thing...or to assist others in doing their own thing.  My own Mom spent twenty years chauffeuring her non-driving mother  around to appointments, to stores, to lunches.  So I guess it really is true that everything in life is cyclical.  What goes around... I know my folks took their turns,  carting five kids around from place to place,  and now it's our turn to return the favor.

Yep, a woman lost her independence today - my Mom did - and maybe I'm losing a little bit of mine, too, but that's okay.  I'm "taking one for the team" so that you can go to sleep tonight, knowing that the streets are a wee bit safer.

There's that damn music again!  "Where to now, Miss Daisy?"