What I Put Up With

[blairmacg]

I spent over an hour cleaning out my car.

Well, that's not exactly true.  I spent twenty minutes cleaning out the car and trunk, ten minutes wiping down all the surfaces, and forty-five minutes vacuuming dog hair from the seats, floor, and crevices.  Gambit--boxer and hound--sheds hardly at all.  Ty Handsome--all Lab--sheds so much, one might believe tribbles were taking over the home if dog-hair removal isn't practiced daily.  It doesn't help that the unseasonable warmth caused him to throw his winter coat early.

But enough about dreary chores performed for the love of dog.

Dev was driving us down a two-lane state highway, and there was a fair bit of traffic in both directions, all at fifty-five to sixty mph.  He had to make a left turn.  No stop sign, no stop light, not even a turn lane.  I tried to coach him through it, but he fixated on the dump truck coming up behind us, and couldn't make a decision quickly enough.  When I told him to slow down, he asked why--the worst thing a learning driver can do in the moment.  He ended up coming up to the turn way too fast, then missing the turn, then panicking, then stepping on the brake. I admit it: I yelled.  I yelled really, really loudly.  Something along the lines of, "GoGoGoGOOOO! MOVE or the FUCKING TRUCK will HIT US!!!!!!"

Dev got us down the road without a collision.

After extracting my fingers from the car's roof and retrieving my heart from the dashboard, we had yet another discussion about why he shouldn't ask why before following driving directions.  "No one stops so you can figure out the answer," I told him.  "You don't have a lot of time, so if I say you need to slow down or stop, it's because you need to do so right that moment--not after you weigh the options and determine I might be right."

(Okay, I said 'I told him' when I really should have said, "I yelled in a shrill voice that sounds way too much like my mother."  And the exclamation marks used below are an understatement of the conversation's force and volume.)

"But I've never made a turn like that before!"

"Even more reason for you to do what I told you to do, without arguing about it!  Let's go try it again."

"I can't!  It's freaking me out too much!"

"You have to learn how to do it!"

"No way!  I can't do it!  The trucks go too fast!"

"Dev, you can't go through life making nothing but right turns!"

Then there was a long pause, during which I assumed he was weighing my words and preparing to face his fear of the horse that had just thrown him.  Ha-ha-ha.

He says, "Actually, Mom, there was a study showing you could make all right turns, and get better gas mileage.  I think it was Mythbusters."

Comments

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Whoa! How scary for you both! I'm thankful it turned out okay.

Pet fur can be annoying. (You should see my pillow. One of the cats sleeps with me.)

[blairmacg.livejournal.com]

Before getting Ty, I had no idea Labs shed so much. Even with daily brushings, he drops fur. We laugh when he gives his whole body a shake because you can see a cloud of fur poof around him.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

This is why I paid professionals to teach my kids. I didn't think either of our hearts could stand it!

[blairmacg.livejournal.com]

He did the driver's education course, thank goodness, so many of the basic problems were taken care of. (Whew!) But since we live in a rural area, we have to drive a bit so he can experience different road and traffic conditions.

But yeah--my heart was about to explode.

[bemused-leftist.livejournal.com]

That's how I was raised! Plan a route so you don't have to make left turns without a stop light or something. At least a pedestrian crosswalk.

Dunno about the gas mileage though. Was it really on Mythbusters? ;-)

[blairmacg.livejournal.com]

Look what I found!
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbusters-right-turn-only-minimyth.html

[jorrie-spencer.livejournal.com]

Yes, new drivers are hard on the nerves! My son and I have an agreement that if I yell at him in the car, he can't get angry about it, that it's situational.

[blairmacg.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yep, we've had that talk, too, about the difference between anger and urgency.