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Driving

I never had a real urge to drive, probably because I had no brothers and we just always took it for granted that Dad would drive. It worked well that way until the day Dad landed in the hospital. Here we were, stuck in the country, 8 miles from Merrill, with no one knowing how to drive the car. Mother had a brother in Merrill who worked in a garage. He came to our rescue by telling Mother what she had to do to drive. She would then go home and do the things he told her as she practiced in the field behind the barn. This was certainly the hard way to learn to drive.

However, she soon learned enough about driving that she could drive the car to the outskirts of Merrill. There she would park it and we would walk to the hospital and back again, -a distance of about 3 miles. This went on for a number of months when our dad passed away. It was at this point in our lives that we realized how important it was for all of us to learn to drive.

Since there was no such thing as Driver's Training when I went to school, I learned when I was about 18 from a neighbor boy. I often took the car to school when I was first teaching in the country, but I had no driver's license. When I decided to get my license, I reported to the Police Station on Forest Street. The officer in charge got in my car and I drove around the block. I never had to parallel park, back, stop on a hill, or any of the other things I had heard others tell about. My test was over in a short time and I got my driver's license.

After spending many years riding the bus, being hauled around by others, and owning cars that were not dependable, I consider my car more than just a method of transportation. It is a friend that I would not and could not live without.