The simplest dig sparked ‘The Story’!
“I think in my time it was easier to keep our weight off because we walked everywhere.”
No eyeroll but a reply! Well, maybe a little,tiny eye roll but it is the eye roll between two people who love each other and it is the eye roll of, “C’mon,” disbelief, NOT the eye roll of disrespect.
“Oh, Grandma, here we go, in YOUR TIME and c’mon you drive now?”
Grandma wasn’t going to let it go.
“Wait, I didn’t always drive. You kids today rush out and get your license the day you turn 16. Matter of fact I didn’t drive UNTIL your GRANDFATHER forced me.” Yep, even after 58 years of marriage she still is using the accusing tone with my father.
A little more probing came from my daughter, “What do you mean he forced you?”
With a twinkle in her eye my mother said, “Ask him?”
Turning now to the so called culprit,my daughter asked “Grandpa, did you force Grandma to drive?”
Grandpa shaking his head and laughing, “Jean, still after how many years (shaking his head with a smile), I am telling you, your Grandmother never forgets anything.” (still shaking his head lovingly)
BUT Grandma wasn’t going to let him get away with that statement even with his affectionate mannerisms.
“What? What does that mean? You did force me! You tell them what happened. (Her voice rising but still with a chuckle) Go right ahead and tell them what happened the VERY first time you made me drive. (With a gleam in her eye and a little deviousness too) It is a wonder I drive at all?” By this point both are reveling in their memory!
Everyone in the room is getting quiet and all the Grandchildren want to hear the story. They know it is going to be good. They can tell by the smiles, the twinkling in their eyes and the laughing something is up!
Grandpa starts, “Jean, you didn’t listen.”
Grandma interjects, “Charlie, I had never driven and I told you I was scared and I didn’t want to. AND you didn’t do a very good job teaching. Oh, and I told you my father would kill me.”
Now, we all know something good is coming!
The grandchildren are fascinated by this conversation. They don’t fully understand it and Of course, leave it to my children to do most of the questioning.
“Grandma why were you scared?”
My mother replies,”Angelo, in my day it wasn’t the thing to do. Especially women. You kids today just don’t get it. We didn’t have fancy driving classes like your parents did, and like you kids do today.”
Grandpa was shaking his head in agreement.
Grandma continues, “AND, Not all families had cars. Certainly everyone in the family did not have a car. A family was lucky to have one car. You kids today think you should have your own car on your 16th birthday but in our day a car was a total luxury and for women,well, it was different.”
Grandpa interjects, “Yeah, but I wanted you to learn.”
I think that says a lot about my dad. In addition, I think my kids are getting it. It is 1951 and still women are second class citizens. Not the first in line to drive!
The story continues.
Grandpa starts it back up, “We were out driving on a Sunday afternoon.” For a split moment it takes me back to my childhood. My dad loved to take drives on a Sunday afternoon. I could just see my parents out driving. It was funny to think that it was something they did as a young couple and my dad continued to do it with us as a family. Sometimes I thought it was weird. I mean we literally would just go driving with no destination. Typically we would end up getting a treat. A simple ice cream cone. My father loves ice cream. I knew when we stopped for the ice cream cone that meant we would be heading home. The ice cream cone was the turnaround point LOL
I snap out of my daydeaming and Grandma jumps in and says, “And your Grandfather decides I need to learn how to drive and he says, ‘Jean, I am going to teach how to drive.’”
Well if you know my Dad and I do and the Grandchildren do they knew their Grandpa knew he meant ‘right then and there’!
Grandma continues, “I said, ‘no Charlie I don’t want to and I don’t want to crash your new car.’”
One of the kids spoke up, “Oh, Grandpa you had a new car.”
Grandpa lights up, “Yes, I had a new Studabaker.”
Studabaker Photo Credit
BLANK FACES EVERYWHERE and he knew the kids where dumbfounded.
Grandpa continues, “It was a little four door car. Nothing special but my new car.” (The kids understood more.) “I told your Grandmother not to worry just get in and everything would be fine.”
Now Grandma is rolling her eyes and she says, “Yes, your Grandfather is always telling me everything is going to be fine, I should have learned after the car lesson with him.”
The Grandchildren now know the car excursion did not go well.
My father wasn’t going to let that dig go, “Jean, who would have thought you didn’t know better.” My mother gave it right back, “Idiot, (my mother loves to call my father idiot) I told you I HAD NEVER DRIVEN A CAR.” Her voice raised and the words came out slowly.
The Grandchildren are loving the bickering and dying to know what went wrong.
Grandpa shaking his head continues, “Well, YOUR GRANDMOTHER (voice raised) gets in the car and she is driving and things are going well UNTIL (voice raised) I tell her to turn left. She turns left and NEVER. LETS. GO. OF THE WHEEL ! We spin right through a fence and drive into a field.” My mom and dad are laughing so hard, like it a happened yesterday. Their Grandchildren are giggling and my son says, “Grandma, why would you hold onto the wheel?” Grandma answers,”Your idiot Grandfather (oh, and she used a lot of tone) didn’t say to let go, he was THE ONE teaching me?” Kind of funny when she wrecked and she is dishing the tone, love my mom!
My father jumps in and says, “Oh, Jean, I thought it was common sense that you would know to let go of the wheel?”
At this point the room is laughing and just imagining the accident.
It turned out that they took the car to her house and my father asked her brother to bang out the dent with him. Here is the best part, my father covered for my mother. He told her brother and father that he wrecked the car. They kept asking how and my father kept trying to say it just happened. My father said that when her father walked away her brother said, “You let Jean drive and she did this.” My father said he never answered but her brother knew. It was fun to hear how my mother at age 20 was still scared of her father. Her Grandchildren didn’t quite understand but you could see they were having fun learning about a past time.
It is funny how those cute little stories teach so much history!
Have you ever heard how your parents learned how to drive? Do you remember learning to drive? Share your story, it will tell me a lot about you! Your history, your time and place, please share!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Lucy! This is a fantastic story! I think we have so much to learn from the generations that came before us. My driving story would take too many words! But I will say that I managed to frustrate the most patient man I have ever known! I look forward to reading more of your posts!
My mother (now 90 yrs old) tells the story of her father’s old model T car. One time on a family outing, he couldn’t get it up a steep hill because the carborator (or some such thing) wasn’t getting enough gas. He got so mad, he made everybody get out of the car and then BACKED IT UP THE HILL The grand kids and great grands wouldn’t have a clue about this, but the firey temper of my Grand Dad shows thru in this story for me. I liked how you made your story so personal and pleasing.
Rosemary