“…I was king of the world when daddy let me drive”

I love the song by Alan Jackson called “Drive”.  Just in case you haven’t heard it, it is a song that tells about Alan’s experiences learning to drive and goes on to tell about him teaching his own girls to drive. 

Driving is supposed to be a milestone for every 15 to 16 year old person.  It’s just assumed that a person will learn to drive and get their driver’s license when they turn 16.

daddy's '69 Firebird

I went through the motions of learning to drive.  I drove my daddy’s 1969 Firebird around and around the vacant lot beside our house.  I drove it around the block a time or two.  I also drove Ed’s old pink Mercury(yes, I did say pink) a few times with Ed sitting beside me.  The problem was, I never got a driver’s license.

I came from a family where  women weren’t encouraged to drive.  For some reason, my grandmother didn’t drive, nor did my mother.  I was now the third generation of non-driving females.  Now you would think that my daddy would’ve been happy for me to learn to drive since he had to take my mother and me everywhere we needed to go, but that wasn’t the case.  He gave me no encouragement to get my license.  As I have explained in my earlier post, I was shy and had very little self-confidence, so I eventually lost interest in learning to drive and depended on someone else for transportation.

Once Ed and I married, he did try to encourage me to get my driver’s license, but it somehow never worked out.  I did actually go to the State Patrol’s Office twice during the first years of our marriage, but each time I never had what I needed to apply for a license.

Finally, at the age of 26, I made up my mind it was time to get a driver’s license.  I got a book, studied a week, let Ed teach me the basics of driving, and went and got my driver’s license!  HooRay!  I was a liberated woman!  After years of being dependant, I was free–to drive.

Now, if I could, would I go back and change things?  Yes, I would!  I would pester my daddy until he taught me how to drive and took me to get my driver’s license!  If that didn’t work, I would definately have gotten my license as soon as I got married.  There is no way that I would spend 10 years of my life depending on others for a ride!!!