funnin' up the chaufferin'

So, what happened is... one day my mom's car came to a time when it was beyond repair. She had it towed to the garage and the mechanic recommended that they shoot it and put it out of its misery. Good plan, I think. Mom at 90 only used the car to drive the few blocks to the store a couple times a week, go to the bank, church... just a little bit of here and there. When she needed to drive out of town, my sister or I took her. Mom drivin' on the highway, not a good idea.

She had been wonderin' when she should just quit driving altogether. She thought maybe when her drivers license expired that would be a good time to just hang up her car keys. Well, it looked like the time had finally arrived. I began driving mom about and trying to see that she had the things she needed... and making routine trips to the grocery store and over to K-Mart... fun places like that. You know!

But Mom just didn't like the inconvenience. If she wanted to go to the store she had to wait for someone to take her. So she began thinking about buying another car. We began car shopping. Wheeeee! Now Mom put about 20 miles a week on her vehicle... so as you can see, she needed something that could handle all that drivin'. We asked around for cars but didn't want her to get stuck with a lemon.

My brother Royce told her she should just quit looking and get a new car. That way "you won't be paying for someone else's problems." So, Mom decided she'd take his advice and last week she bought herself a brand spankin' new 2005 Ford Focus. Uh-huh! That's right!



Is that not the coolest 90 year old lady you've ever seen sportin' a brand new car?

The first time Mom took the car out for a spin, She asked me to follow her... old habits die hard. She was a bit afraid that when she backed the new car out of her garage the automatic door was going to close right in the middle of it. I backed out in the street and watched to make sure she didn't get impaled in her new car under the garage door. After she got the car out into the street, after a bit of struggling here and there... I could see she was trying to find stuff, she finally got the car turned around and headed up the street... right up the wrong side of the street that is. But adjusted things and soon was driving as she always did, right down the middle of the street. She arrived at my house with no serious accidents happening to her. She climbed out of her car and looked at me and said "I have to adjust these mirrors. I can't see where I'm at when I'm driving!" Well, yeah... OK... I understand. I think. We got the mirrors adjusted and she was feeling pretty confident, so she drove back home without me following her.

Well come Friday, I took Mom to town, only this time we drove her car instead of mine. Yeah, I got a bit aggravated trying to get the mirrors and seat adjusted just right, but soon I got myself fit in behind the wheel... and off we went. Now, when Mom needs to go anyplace we driver her car! It puts a happy spin on chaufferin'. I'll have to find more places for her to go. Today, Mom realized she had put over 100 miles on the car. (Actually she notes the mileage every time we go about a block... I don't know how long that will last.) I told her we needed to celebrate. Looks like we're getting that new car broken in just fine.