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lynpenny

Super Moderator
Staff member
Good to see you here, too, Lynn! We're practically neighbors, you know! Are you still going to school?

This winter is totally freakish. I keep thinking to myself that my husband and I moved SOUTH from Iowa to get away from that.

By the way, aren't you a transplanted Yankee Midwesterner too?

I'm still going to school. On break now so I have time to play. That will end in a week. My time will be limited while I'm trying to keep my grades up. I have to get good grades cause the kids would never forgive me if I didn't.lol

Yes we are practically neighbors. I'll be driving through Temple later this week on my way to see the grandbabies one more time before classes start. Also to help oldest take her drivers test. Hope she passes this time, she was so scared the last time she didn't make it. Oh well. There is always another time.

Yes came down from Kansas. but you know the ya'll thing is catching.
 

plantlover

New Member
I don't have a driver's license....never had it! It is one of those things that frustrates me to no end. It makes it impossible to get around because the public transportation here is largely non-existent. I have to rely on my husband. I took driver's ed way back when I was in high school, but my parents refused to allow me to get my license. They did the same thing with my sister, but after she graduated from college, she told my parents that not being able to drive would severely diminish her ability to find work.....Her story worked, and they let her take private driving lessons. She's a stinky driver, but she lives in a rural area, so it's not so bad!

You've got to get better grades than your kids! That way you can tell them "told you so." What are you taking? I finished undergrad work long ago, and grad school in 2001. I really enjoyed it...there's something fun about all that work and the challenges. I loved the competition, too.

I'm dying to see the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Have you ever been there??? We've only been to Austin a few times....I'd like to check it out at greater length, but since my husband drives so much for his work, I feel a bit reluctant to push him to do any additional driving -- even if it's just for a short road trip.....

Anytime you come through Temple, let me know.....
 

Gloria

Super Moderator
Staff member
Susan, my mom was 57 when she first got her drivers license. She had never driven a car except for the one time she wanted Dad's truck moved and she ran into the porch! She always depended on Dad to take her where she needed to go. When he died, she was 12 miles out of town and no one to drive her unless I or a sibling could come give her a ride. She tired of waiting for us very quickly. Took her 6 tries of the driving test to get them, but she finally suceeded. She drove till she was 80.
 

plantlover

New Member
I'd like to think it wouldn't take me six tries to get my license, but my hubby refuses to teach me -- or let me drive the car. If someone would teach me and I had a car to take the test in, that would be helpful......I can see why people might think I'd be a mess behind the wheel with unmedicated (and undiagnosed) ADHD and ADD, but now that I've learned to deal with it and have medication, I could be calm as a cucumber! I want to learn so badly!
 

Randy

Super Moderator
Staff member
I taught my wife before we were married and I think it was a mistake. It wasn't a mistake for her to get a license, but it was a mistake for me to teach her. Even today, she gets irritated if I correct her and back then I could see her jaw set when I would correct her on a driving flaw. If you were my wife, Susan, I would encourage you to get a license, but I would also spring for driving lessons from one of the outfits that do that sort of thing.
 

swindy

New Member
Plant lover you should do what ever you have to do to get a license. If your husband won't let you use his car then buy a cheap used one for yourself, and use it to learn in.
I live in an Over 55 Community and I can't believe how so many of the woman here can't drive, and all of them are widows. they are STUCK in this place, they can't even go to the store for a gallon of milk unless their kids show up to take them to the store. We have a company owned bus that is suposed to be here twice a week to take them, but it is hit or miss and it only holds 14 people. I have offered to teach a couple of them to drive but they claim to be to nervous. I try to tell them that until they feel comfortable driving they are only going to be doing 35 miles per hour and if they hit anyone at that speed they are only going to hurt them and not kill them. PL don't let yourself get into a position that when you are alone you will have to depend on others to get your basic needs. If your husband give you a augument ask him what is going to happen if he needs to go places if something happens to him that he can no longer drive. I also believed that I could never be a safe driver when I was learning, lots of people tried to teach me, then a girlfriend of mine grabbed me and said " Get behind the wheel and move the damn car." She was great and took the fear out of me.
 

lynpenny

Super Moderator
Staff member
Susan I'm taking art history, world lit, biology, and us govt. Yes I have to get good grades to show the grandchildren I can. I have two granddaughters who are A students and in the gifted program. The other granddaughter frustrates everyone since she goes to school to meet boys and plan her social life. did I mention she is flunking math. She is a Jr. and she may be in high school when her sister gets there.lol

Some time when I have a day or two I'll come pick you up and we will make a day of going to the Wildflower Center. But it may have to wait until spring break. I love the wildflower center. I'm a member. I don't get there as often as I should.

pm me you number and I'll give you a call the next time I have time in Temple. When hubby goes up for tests at the VA I get stuck waiting on him. You know the routine.
 

plantlover

New Member
Man do I ever know that VA routine! Sometimes they have my hubby go in for blood work at 7 in the morning, then come back for his actual doctor's appointment at 9 or 9:30. I generally don't go with him...the doctor sends him to mandatory pre-diabetes education classes, of course I go, but with him, they might as well be talking to a wall. He hates most vegetables. I on the other hand could live on them. The VA Hospital isn't very far from us.....It's over on the east side of town, but as I've discovered is the norm in Texas, these towns are encircled by loops, and that makes it much easier to get from place to place. If you know where Temple Mall is, we're very close to that.
 

Gloria

Super Moderator
Staff member
Susan, I agree with Swindy you need to learn to drive. If my Mom could, anyone could. Mom was something else behind the wheel. She left from my drive way one day, went across the road and into a 5 foot ditch, head first. I asked her what happened and with a giggle she replied..."I forgot to turn." Yep, I'd say she did, the road goes right and left, nothing but ditch straight across.
She also rammed the back end of my truck cause she thought she had her car in reverse..NOT...it was in Drive and she floored it! My truck was in park and not running but she managed to move it 20 feet!
She ran over my dog too, she was trying to out run him. Eventually I forgave her for that one..
You really need to learn to drive, and the sooner the better!
 

lynpenny

Super Moderator
Staff member
Susan mostly I just go to Temple when he has tests that he can't drive home from any more. I know where the VA is and there is a Hancock fabric on the road we take to get to the VA and that is all I know. I do have onstar so if I have an address the car will tell me how to get to it. It has been a life saver here in Austin at times. He hasn't had to go for a while and I'm glad. He goes in tomorrow for lab work but doesn't see the doctor until the 23rd. And that is in Cedar Park.
 

Kya D

Active Member
Ms. Susan It's hard to comprehend that some one as amazing as you hasn't learned to drive. Like Gloria mentioned you really should learn just for the "what if's" in life.
I was driving when I was 6 and was really pretty good at it by the time I was 8. AND we never owned a car with an automatic transmission. It was a stick shift all the way. That is what you get when you are raised on a farm. Our drivers ed teacher got up on the first day of class when I was 15 and told us that he would know the liars in the class when he asked how many of us already had been driving for years if we didn't ALL raise our hands. And we all did.
I wish I was closer to you cuz you know I would teach you to drive.
Your Hubby can't do it, you really need a friend to teach you.
When it was time to learn to back a trailer I went to a friend and he had me backing up like a champ in about 30 minutes. I knew better than to ask DH to teach me.
TTFN,
 

treeman

Member
Ms. Susan It's hard to comprehend that some one as amazing as you hasn't learned to drive. Like Gloria mentioned you really should learn just for the "what if's" in life.
I was driving when I was 6 and was really pretty good at it by the time I was 8. AND we never owned a car with an automatic transmission. It was a stick shift all the way. That is what you get when you are raised on a farm. Our drivers ed teacher got up on the first day of class when I was 15 and told us that he would know the liars in the class when he asked how many of us already had been driving for years if we didn't ALL raise our hands. And we all did.
I wish I was closer to you cuz you know I would teach you to drive.
Your Hubby can't do it, you really need a friend to teach you.
When it was time to learn to back a trailer I went to a friend and he had me backing up like a champ in about 30 minutes. I knew better than to ask DH to teach me.
TTFN,

Well, I didn't start in cars quite as early as Kya, but I was driving the trqactor just as soon as my legs were long enough... I'd say about 8 and then the old 4 wheel drive Ford by the time I was 10. When I took behind the wheel in school, the first thing the instructor asked me at the end of our first session was "Do you drive the Flower Delivery Trucks?" I answered Yes and he said I drove like it. I apologised and he said no I drove like a professional, I really didn't need behind the wheel.

Susan... learn to drive.... some day your life or you DH's life may depend upon it.
 

Dale

Super Moderator
Staff member
Well, I didn't start in cars quite as early as Kya, but I was driving the trqactor just as soon as my legs were long enough... I'd say about 8 and then the old 4 wheel drive Ford by the time I was 10. When I took behind the wheel in school, the first thing the instructor asked me at the end of our first session was "Do you drive the Flower Delivery Trucks?" I answered Yes and he said I drove like it. I apologised and he said no I drove like a professional, I really didn't need behind the wheel.

Susan... learn to drive.... some day your life or you DH's life may depend upon it.

Wes you story sounds almost like the story I have heard from my husband many many times. He was the oldest boy so his parents needed him to grow up quickly. He is 6 ft. 1 inch now and has real long legs. Out of necessity he started driving a tractor when he was 5. He got his bus license when he was 15 years old. He drove the school bus full time in the 11th and 12th grade. He earned $35 a month and thought he was a rich man. Can't even imagine a 16 year old driving a bus full of children nowadays. Back in the old days we were more mature and did what had to be done.
 


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