I Hate Driving

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There. I said it. One of the things that I used to love is gone.

Just keepin in real.

I bought a car in February of 2011 that had 5,000 miles on it. On March 3rd, less than a month later, I was blinded by one of two Cavernous Malformations in my brain stem. From that point, until mid-October of that same year, Connie drove my new car to get me where I needed to be. If it weren’t for her, I don’t think that I’d be here.

The other part of that combination, the car, has also been instrumental. It’s allowed us to travel an additional 134,000 miles. When I recently told my friend Pete how many miles were on my car he was amazed. “Wow, you drove that many miles with just one eye! ” Not, “hey that’s been a good car or gee that Ford is a keeper.” He brought it back to the person behind the wheel for all of those miles. Then, of course, I do most everything with just one eye.

I dreaded those days from March to November, when I had to ask one of my friends or coworkers for a ride. I hated it. Why did that bother me so much? Normally, it wouldn’t matter much at all. They probably didn’t think anything of it, so why did I? I don’t know. As I dig into more understanding and try to relate to people that are struggling, I find myself asking more questions.

From this point forward, one question that I will try to answer with an affirmative “YES!” is if someone asks me, “can I drive?” It sucks driving at night. It sucks having my head on a swivel to make my huge blind-spots smaller. It sucks pulling up to a drive-thru window or toll-booth. It sucks knocking my mirrors off on the side of the garage.

Fortunately “Charles”, my 2011 Taurus, has kept me safer with blind-spot detection, automated cruise control adjustment and collision detection. Still, with all of those miles, it’s about time for the next model. Hopefully, the next one will be even safer and maybe drive for me. 🙂

No matter how bad my day starts or ends, I still drive. I still do things that are uncomfortable. I still push forward. Doing things that I may not want to do allows me to experience the things that I love. Tomorrow is another day. The sun will rise in the east and set in the west.

Are there things in your life that technology has changed for the better? Are there other things that you wish for?