HAVE YOU BECOME YOUR MOM?

It's kinda scary!

In a a tribute to my mom on this Mother’s Day weekend, I’m republishing an earlier blog post I did called “Karma’s a Bitch (A little X-rated).” One of the purposes of my blog is to share what it’s like getting older. One thing I know for sure — as I near 79 years-old is — I’m finally glad — I’m just like her. Ha!

Photo: The last time we left Sanibel Island.

When I was a young person, I hate to admit it now, I actually thought older people shouldn’t drive. As a kid, I remember being horrified the time my grandmother drove up a steep hill with her emergency brake on and smoke poured out from under her hood.

During midlife, I was still nervous about older people driving. For nearly twenty years my mom would pick my sister & me up at the Ft Myer’s airport for our week-long retreat on Sanibel. Every year my husband would call me just as my mom turned onto Tree Line Drive and ask, “Is she in the left- hand lane yet?”

I would always laugh, wink at my sister and answer in code, “Yep, we just LEFT the airport.”

A seasoned beach-goer, my mom knew there were two more left- hand turns on our 25-mile trek to Sanibel so she insisted on driving slowly and staying in the left lane the whole way. Each time a younger driver sped by us on the right shouting obscenities or flipping us off, my sister and I tried to hide our faces. We knew our eighty-year-old mother was going to yell “Asshole” out the window.

Sadly, there are on average 6 million car accidents in the U.S. every year. That's roughly 16,438 per day. I was sure Senior Citizens were causing most of them, but The United States Census Bureau says novice drivers cause significantly more car accidents than seniors. They calculate 12.2 percent of car accidents are the responsibility of teen drivers while 7.5 percent of accidents are caused by drivers over 65.

Who knew my mom was safer than that kid who passed us on the right?

Personally though, I still watch out for old drivers. I’m not taking any chances. That’s why when I was at Wal Mart the other day, I pulled forward out of my parking space really slowly. I don’t know where it came from, but a car suddenly appeared on my right. The young driver honked his horn, rolled his eyes and flipped me off.

“Asshole”

It’ll Be OK.

Happy Mother’s Day, Everyone! xoxo

~~~

“My slow transformation into becoming my mother has somehow picked up speed.” ~Lisa Newlin

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