Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Icy

This morning, I pulled out of the garage and backed into the turn-around. Rather than stopping like normal, the front of the car kept sliding. Michael looked at me wide-eyed.
"I guess it is a little slippery out today; it did rain last night." I said.
Michael didn't look too pleased. He has been taking drivers ed and thinks he knows everything about driving. I could see his face get tight.
When we got into town, I came to a four way stop. I didn't slow soon enough, fish tailed and just barely stopped in time.
"Man! That was lucky Suzanne!" Michael yelled at me.
"What? I stopped in time."
"Hardly."
Great. Michael is going to be the worst back seat driver ever. I can't wait until I don't have to drive him to school...wait...he gets his temps this week. I guess Michael will be driving me. I am not sure I will like that.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

My sister is just took driver's ed, and she drove me nuts, even though I wasn't driving her... She'd always call out these confusing things like "foot tag!" (whatever that means) and yell out "Did you check your blindspot?" every time anyone changed lanes. Rgh! She's not so bad now, however. Quite...

Kodi said...

I know what it's like to have backseat drivers. When I was first learning how to drive, and indeed even after I had gotten my license, everytime my mom thought I wasn't stopping quickly enough, she would hit her imaginary brake pedal. Also, if she thought I was being a little more reckless that she thought I should be, she would grab onto one of the handles on the ceiling.

My dad was more along the lines of just unnecessarily reminding me of stuff all the time.

Now, however, I don't have a problem with backseat drivers.

Gregaria said...

This is something I deal with a lot, especially with a certain sibling who is just learning to drive and feels the need to remind me of many things while tagging along. Grace is also starting to do this... though she's a few years off from DE. I don't like it!

Anonymous said...

Well Hannah.... sometimes you do need the reminder, because otherwise we would get in a wreck. I guess we all notice things a lot more when we start driving.

Anonymous said...

Ha! I don't notice a thing when I am behind the wheel. There's probably a very good reason for that. But with two sisters driving, I notice more than I used to. namely, my dad's nerve-wracking, freak you out of your skull left turns... Oich! Just thinking about them makes me want to hold on to something tight. I actually feel safest driving with my sisters, which is kind of scary if you think about it...

Fiona S M Bernhoft said...

When Deirdre was learning to drive (and actually, she still is) I would do the whole Mamma Wilson brake thing. Now I don't pay attention as much when she drives, becuase it totally freaks me out. So usually I just ignore her, and kiss the ground when I get out of the car safely. And object loudly when she tries to drive instead of me.

I hated driving with dad when I first started, because he'd make this freaky noises and yell things like "look out!", which would freak me out. I'd always wonder if there was something I was missing, and it was very off-putting. now i barely ever drive with him, so it's okay.

Unknown said...

I first learned how to drive ages before I was legal (Probably 12 or 13, if not earlier....), with my grampa, and so when it came time for my parents to "teach" me the masterful art of driving, I was already quite comfortable.

I've never seen my dad doing anything abnormal even while I was "learning" to drive with him, but Mom still has a love of shouting incoherently to check that I'm doing the correct thing while pulling out into traffic or changing lanes. I am always doing things perfectly, of course, but then her shouts usually startle me so badly I could quite easily do something awful in my terror.

But thus far, and in my own mind at least, I have retained an impeccable reputation behind the wheel.

Anonymous said...

*snort* 'Impeccable' being a relative term...

Scyldmaiden said...

I see my post has hit a nerve.
My parents were great when I was learning to drive. Dad was always calm and mom would yell only once in a while.
BUT now, when ever I drive with my 18 year-old brother (who thinks he is a wonderful driver, but drives way too fast.), Thomas slams the imaginary brakes. Silly fellow.

Little Mary said...

I agree about backseat drivers. Even though siblings are bad at it, parents are worse. My mom refuses to drive with me but my dad is really cool about it. See, he taught me to drive so he knows I drive almost exactly like him. My mom won't let him drive either :)!

Anonymous said...

I love reading how you all react to back seat drivers- I admit I am terrible! And my kids know it. :) Ah well. Hopefully they'll learn how to be great parents trying to avoid my bad example. ;)

Mom W

Scyldmaiden said...

Hi Mrs. W! I must say you are more adventurous than my mom. She wouldn't touch the computer for anything.
Michael is probably going to be learning to drive with me. I hope I can break any back-seat driving habits before he starts.

Anonymous said...

Ha ha! Our mom would never go on IM, either... like Mrs. W does. :) It's terrific.