Driving Lessons

October 27, 2016

Dear Daddy,
I think you better get down here quick. "Sweet Tomatoes " has added a breakfast menu on the weekends!If you get here during the week,instead of the weekend, you could always enjoy their tomato basil soup and creamy Rosemary. They have been serving baked sweet potatoes too and they are delicious.

We took Dani there today after her driver's test. We forgot to have her practice parallel parking enough so she will have to try again. There are always a few of your golden nuggets of driving instructions that creep into my brain when I am driving with Dani. Some of these can be translated into life lessons too!

1."keep both hands on the steering wheel and you will not be tempted to lose concentration by doing things with your hands besides driving" ,could also be interpreted to the importance of maintaining focus in our modern world of distractions.

2."Only swerve for humans and deer. Run over everything else" .This lesson requires a little more thought as I actually see very few deer in everyday living, but the other mammal you mentioned I see MORE than enough of. I am telling you the older I get, the harder it is to swerve for humans, or let's just say forgive. I am trying not to turn into a total cynic like our neighbor Mr Wilcox, but somedays this rule is hard for me to keep.

3."If you are turning left, don't whip your head back and forth waiting for both ways to clear. Watch the left first and when that clears, start watching the right", also means not trying to look for too many solutions to a problem at one time. Try one thing first.

4."Don't go under a quarter tank of gas. You never know when that next service station is going to show up", also means try not to procrastinate tasks and don't be the weirdo that leaves an empty milk carton in the fridge.

5."If you can't see the bumper of the car in front of you, you are way too close to that car", can be interpreted to not hold a problem so close to your heart that you don't leave space for anything else-including good things!

6."If you slide on ice, turn the wheel into the slide" makes me think how life can turn on a dime and sometimes we feel powerless to stop a certain cascade of events. At these times, sometimes coasting is the answer AND just letting the storm pass.

7." You will wear out your brakes quicker if you press down immediately at the last second. Short bursts of tapping on the brakes cause less friction ". This is the good old "tortoise and hare" analogy. Slow and steady progress, even in short bursts, is often more reliable than quick, short efforts. Slow and steady DOES mean less friction too!

Many of these instructions have served me well over the years. The kids still like to tease me about the time I ran over a family of ducks with the ducklings running behind ,when we were driving from Twin Falls to Burley. I knew if I had swerved at such a high speed I could have put everyone in the SUV at risk, not just the family of ducks.It was one of my darkest days and I truly feel horrible I killed a mama and babies even if it was a different species. Truly, few things are louder than the sobs of a car full of girls when a family of ducks meets an untimely demise. Perhaps the swerve lesson has been particularly important for our family as we have had obstacles, not ducks, that have come in the way of our well-being. I may have run over , figuratively speaking of course, schools,judgemental individuals and the occasional health care practitioner, but it was all in an effort to keep the "Budge family vehicle" in working order. I am happy to report, I have yet to hit a deer OR a human in real life!