For over four decades, my husband drove Ms Daisy. I was Ms. Daisy, happy to get from point A to point B without the knack for learning or knowing directions. He liked driving and rendered me this service as one of the perks of love. I graciously accepted and enjoyed being the sitting queen.
When he passed nearly two years ago, I intensely grieved over the loss of my love — and sorely missed my driver. I had to re-learn driving skills and confidence, thanks to my son’s thoughtful gesture of enrolling me in driving school. Now, Ms. Daisy drives, and more, I’ve learned to gas up the car, steer up to car wash lines, and go to auto service shops whenever a warning light pops up on my dashboard. I relish the thought that an ability has been added to my list of “can do’s”.
Last week, I went to a regular repair shop for an oil change and periodic checkup. The wait, I was told, was going to be around two hours. I really didn’t mind sitting in the lobby with a dozen other customers engrossed in reading their books or lost in laptop operation. The wait was actually relaxing, feeling thankful that I finally found time to continue reading towards the middle of a bestseller writer’s guidebook suggested by my daughter. Twenty-five pages, wow! If my brain had teeth, I chewed carefully on every word, every paragraph stewed in my consciousness, and every point slowly digested, till I got tired while waiting for my car.
With two and a half hours passed, I stood up from my warmed seat on the black vinyl couch, and relentlessly bugged the customer rep to give me my serviced car back; this, of course, after consuming two small bags of popcorn, a chocolate chip cookie and half a cup of decaf coffee from the hospitality counter. The verdict on my car came as the rep handed me my service report – tires need to be changed and battery cables cleaned in six months. Ugh! Information that comes with the driving territory. But hey, Ms. Daisy ain’t Ms. Daisy anymore… she’s a driving Lola who takes good care of her car – and will have those tires changed, and battery cables cleaned, just like the service man recommended.