Tonight I was going to write up some reviews of comics I finally had the opportunity to get caught up on. I even started working on one of these but my mind kept returning to an exchange of tweets last night that left me revisiting a day that was shared with my father many years ago.
As some of you may know my father passed away a little over 3 years ago so all I have left now are memories of moments shared, as well as the wish that he were still here so that I could store even more memories of moments shared with a very special person.
What were the tweets that triggered the memories? What was the day that I found myself reliving? Let me start at the beginning which is actually a bit of a middle.
This brief exchange triggered fond memories of the day I took my driving test. My father took me and I was terrified. The town I learned to drive in had these nice wide streets, the town I was testing in had narrow busy streets and well I hate tests, especially when they would determine whether I would have the (hey I was a teenager) of being able to drive myself places.
My father calmly moved to the backseat while I nervously took the wheel after doing the written test. I can’t tell you much about the DMV tester other than it was a man and he was very nice. Chatted with us as I took the test, interspersing directions with conversation. At one point he would have been within his rights to have failed me. Remember the wide streets where I learned? The narrow streets where I was testing? Well I managed to clip a curb as I took a turn while trying to ensure I stayed on my side of the street. I thought it was all over and was ready to start crying right then and there. But the tester at this point turned the conversation to the town I lived in and mentioned how nice and wide the streets were there. I really didn’t know what to make of this as he didn’t end the test but I knew I could still be failed.
Everything changed when we returned to the DMV. How is that? Somebody suddenly pulled out in front of me. I think everybody in the car expected an accident. I was to busy doing everything I had learned and brought the car to a gentle stop without hitting the other car. I think that moment sealed my fate. After the other car moved out of the way, I continued on to the spot I was to return to after the test and waited to hear my fate… by now you may have figured it out. Yes, I passed. But more important than that piece of paper was the pride in my father’s voice as he congratulated me on not only passing but how well I handled the car when the fool pulled out in front of me.
Even now thinking of the pride in his voice is making it hard to type as my eyes are welling with happy tears.
It is memories like these that make missing him both easier and harder at the same time. But I will treasure every tear this memory brings because it is the memory of a special day in so many ways.
