.

My mood is

The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.
Psalm 126:3

______________________

Today's Verse

PHILIPPIANS FOUR, 13!

My Weight Chart

NO Blogrolls...
Love my Google Reader!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Flashback Friday #1

Linda from Mocha With Linda fame has started a new meme! This one's going to be fun. Each week she will ask us a question, and we post our answer! It will be something to bring about a memory of some sort to share! (I HOPE I can wrangle a memory each week... we'll see!) I don't do well UNprompted - but I can usually answer a question! Sooooo....

This week's flashback revolves around our early driving experiences:

How and when did you learn to drive? Do you have any particular memories associated with getting your driver license? How old were you when you got your first car and what was it? Who paid for it?

NOT mine... mine was in NOwhere near this good of shape!
But it is the car - black roof and all...

My first driving experience was probably really boring. I took driver's ed in High School and really was not even all that excited about it! I knew I was not going to have access to a car so knowing how to drive wasn't really a high priority! Plus I lived with access to busses... But, the class was offered, and I took it! Of course, we had to finish the "classroom" part before we were allowed behind a wheel, but when the day came to get behind the wheel I was fine ... until the instructor told me to go out on the HIGHWAY! I thought he was crazy then -- I STILL think he was crazy today! We went out in pairs - so there was another student in the back seat while I was driving - and then we swapped out. It was scary being responsible for THEIR safety... it was even scarier when I was in the BACK seat! LOL! I survived it though, and didn't think a lot more about it. The school year ended... I had nothing to drive. And then for my 16th birthday my mother arranged for my sister to take me to get my license. No no no -- don't go thinkin' there was a CAR involved for a birthday present! This is REALITY blogging here! Nope! But I did pass the test - on the first try - and got my driver's license for my 16th birthday. I didn't get my first CAR until I was 23! By that time I had moved out, moved several states away... had Amanda... moved back... and wanted to get a JOB! My sister had been nursing this old red Pontiac LeMans for I don't know how long! Her twin had owned it before HER, and it was used when SHE got it! It was in pitiful poor shape and she sold it to me for $1.00! That was because if she GAVE it to me I would have to pay tax on the blue book value - but if she sold it to me, I only had to pay tax on the purchase price! LOL! Trust me ... it was only WORTH $1.00! But... it did get me to work and back for about a year... until on New Year's Eve (without a drink!) I was on my way home from work, had picked Amanda up from her babysitter and was on my way to pick up my roommates little boy from his babysitter. It was snowing to beat the band, and I hit a patch of ice on my side of the road at the same time that an oncoming car hit a patch on their side of the road. We met in the middle somewhere with my car getting T-boned on the passenger side -- where Amanda was sitting with NO seatbelt on. She got tossed into my lap and it seemed like an ambulance just appeared from nowhere! When we got to the hospital, an officer came in and asked me if Amanda had had on a seatbelt. Seatbelt laws were not yet in effect in Maryland. She was 4 years old. I said no... she hadn't. It was then he told me that it was a good thing -- cuz if she HAD she would have been dead. I didn't understand how true that statement was until a few days later when I went to the lot it had been towed to to get some things out of it. The inside passenger door was all the way over into the steering wheel! GOOOOOO GOD! We were very blessed!

And Linda... thank you for bringing that memory to mind!

16 comment(s):

The first part of this made me laugh, and the second part made me gasp! So glad your daughter was okay.

It cracks me up how huge the hoods are on these old cars! It would be like driving from the back seat today! LOL

Thanks for playing.

By Mocha with Linda, at 3/12/2010 12:21 PM

Those old cars were so roomy.

I would not have known that about taxes on what someone GAVE you! Crazy!!

Wow, so glad you and Amanda were both safe!

By Barbara H., at 3/12/2010 1:38 PM

Wow... Isn't it wonderful how God is watching over us, even when we do not realize it. Glad you were both safe.

until next time... nel

By Nel, at 3/12/2010 1:50 PM

Great story of God's grace!

By Kim, at 3/12/2010 1:58 PM

Aw. i like the prettiness of your blog. So very Springy. And the car. Vroom, vroom.

Flash 55 - Avian Love

By Nessa, at 3/12/2010 2:06 PM

LOVE LOVE LOVE the new blog theme. IT's so bright and fresh. WOOT. And I see the weight is moving farther to the right. Good Job. Love your driving story. I'm just glad you and Amanda were safe :) Women drivers LOL

By Anonymous, at 3/12/2010 2:48 PM

Reality blogging! What a concept.

I just paused and said a prayer of thanks that Amanda was saved in the accident. I know he was years ago, but God still knew what I was talking about.

By quilly, at 3/12/2010 3:34 PM

Hi Melli, I got the idea to do this from Quilly also.

Isn't it a sin(??) what we all have done with our first cars. They seem to not last very long.

I am very glad that Amanda was safe, in your arms, even. Did you catch a look to see if you guy's angel had wings? (I always did want to know about that wing thing.)
..

By Jim, at 3/12/2010 4:30 PM

That was sort of a surprise when your new background came up. I have a calendar that has that same quote on it for this month. There is a stack of blueberry pancakes and some honey and butter...all the stuff we have to be careful with. Anyway...that isn't what I was going to yap about.

When I learned to drive there was no driver's ed...nobody had thought of it at that time. My step-father took me out to let me drive the back roads. Fort Worth wasn't so big back then and it was somewhat safer to drive out in the wild. I don't remember too much about the learning part, except once when I got in some loose gravel. That was quite the experience! I guess...it has been with me now for...OMG...50 years.

There were some very poor decisions based on what we could remember from the book. I remember once when I was out with one of my girl friends and we were trying to decide who had the right of way to make a left turn. I THOUGHT it was us, but it wasn't. Our guardian angels had a hard time keeping up with us. Bless their little ragged little wings. Hopefully mine is getting a little rest these days.

About Amanda...also at that time we didn't have the fancy schmancy car seats we do now. I had a little seat that hooked over the back of the seat. At that time we had a very cool little convertible and I put C's little seat on her side of the car and danged if the seat didn't go forward and bung her little head on the dashboard. I nearly had a fit and she cried, but all was well in the end. She is in her 40s now and is and has always been smart as a whip. Not to say the new car seats aren't needed. They sure are so much better than anything we had in the '60s.

I'm telling you...kids used to be a lot tougher. They had to be. I remember falling out of my grandmother's car and I lived to tell the tale. I was a little girl at that time, and a skinned up little girl at that time, too. Bet that gave my ole Gan-Gan a near heart attack! I was more careful after that day.

By Amber Star, at 3/12/2010 6:00 PM

Oh yes...I was going to ask if that was at GTO....we called them Get Tools Out cars. :)

By Amber Star, at 3/12/2010 6:01 PM

It was very odd for me. The seat belt Katie had on killed her, and yet, she had admonished me to put mine on, and it saved my life. I'm still conflicted about it all. I guess God has some work left for me to do on earth.

By Maribeth, at 3/12/2010 7:47 PM

LeMans, eh? I was thinking it was a GTO and I was jealous! I didn't have a car to call mine until my dh & I bought me a pickup truck (I loved it!) but I drove the family car, a 1973 Chevy Impala wagon, in late high school. It was a 10yo boat -- wider and longer than a Suburban.
I'm glad your accident worked out the way it did.
My mom is alive because of a seat belt in an accident back in the late 1960's, so we ALL used them from that day forward.

By Anonymous, at 3/12/2010 7:58 PM

Your first car history was like mine. I got a car when I got a career job.
I am so glad you had the Lords protection for both you and Amanda.

By bettygram, at 3/13/2010 12:04 AM

Wow ! what a story ! You really were very lucky that safe belt laws didn't exist yet ! In Europe you have to be 18 before you get a driver licence. In Belgium we didn't have any driver licence until 1968, everybody could drive a car. Then all car owners got a driver licence when a new law came out. I had a car, so I got it with the mail. Today learning to drive costs a fortune.

By Ingrid, at 3/13/2010 1:53 AM

Ooooh, thank God for NO seatbelt in this story!

By Jientje, at 3/13/2010 8:35 AM

First thing, I LOVE your "flashback"! Second thing, I HAD to comment on your blog because the whole flashback friday thing blew me away. I recently started a blog (so I am new at this!), and my twin sister suggested I do a "Flashback Friday" for mine. I thought this was a GREAT idea. Today, I stumble on your blog, and you are already implementing this. Wow! Anyway, I love your blog--it is very inspirational. Thanks!

By Shannon, at 3/13/2010 4:56 PM

.

About Me

Visit Ella

My Blogrolls

Previous

Friday, March 12, 2010

Flashback Friday #1

16 comment(s):