When I was very small, the doctor told my parents that I would never ride a two-wheel bicycle because of my equilibrium. (But I did.) He said that I would never drive a car. I’ve been driving now for 37 years, and the hardest thing I ever learned to do was drive a car. But God enabled me because only He knew how badly I’d need a driver’s license.
I got my California state driver’s license in 1975, almost three years before my double vision was corrected by an Air Force eye doctor. It’s frightening to think that I learned to drive with double vision, but I could compensate for it quite well. The hardest part of driving for me was staying in my own lane. I have no depth perception, so I couldn’t judge my distance from parked cars or the lines on the road or a vehicle in the next lane.
My mother used to tell me that I couldn’t walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. Now, forty years later, I know what she meant. I can’t multi-task, and she’s right. And driving a car requires a lot of multi-tasking. Things that most people take for granted are incredibly hard for me.
You must pay attention to your surroundings – children playing, speed limit signs, stop signs ahead, the color of the traffic light, cars around you (in your blind spot, inattentive or distracted drivers), who got to the four-way stop before you, etc.
At the same time, you must be alert to your own driving – watch your speed, stay in your own lane (most people don’t have to think about that one), signal turns and lane changes, pay attention to where you’re going, and don’t turn the wrong way on a one way street, among other things.
Because I couldn’t multi-task, and driving requires a lot of multi-tasking, initially I wasn’t a very safe driver. I couldn’t drive defensively because I was too busy trying not to cross the yellow line into oncoming traffic. And it panicked me whenever another car passed me going the same direction. They had to pull up beside me while I was moving, and I was afraid I would run into them. God watched out for me; that’s for sure.
Two years after I got my license, I enlisted in the United States Air Force and they sent me to England where I met my husband (a US serviceman) and got married. Everyone knows that in England they drive on the left-hand side of the road. Floyd had a standard transmission British automobile (so the steering wheel was on the right). And he taught me to drive it. Therefore, I learned to shift with my left hand.
By the time I returned to the US, I’d driven on the left-hand side of the road longer than I’d driven on the right, and boy did I have difficulty transitioning back to stateside driving. Every time I turned the corner, I reverted to the left hand side of the road. Then one day, it dawned on me that I no longer focused on the front of the car, lining it up with the line on the street in order to stay in my lane. I now look at the road and traffic and signals up ahead. I try to be aware of what’s going on around me at all times. But it took years to overcome the fear of another motorist passing me on the road, or for me to pass another vehicle, even on a four-lane highway. God taught me to multi-task one task at a time.
In August, 2001, my mother flew out to Cincinnati to visit me. She said, “My, Marjie, you’ve become such a good driver.” And I have become an alert and safe driver, but it’s taken years and years of driving practice to get comfortable behind the wheel of a car. (I still drive with both hands on the wheel.) My husband is old fashioned and always drives whenever we’re out together. But he went TDY (temporary duty) a lot with the Air Force and then when he retired from the military, he traveled a lot with his job. The first twelve years of our marriage, we were separated half the time. As difficult as it was to master driving skills, It was crucial that I learned how to drive. I had three children to take care of, one of which had special needs, and my husband was out of town for weeks at a time. So God enabled me to develop a skill that I would need; yet I wouldn’t have mastered it without divine help or intervention.
Living in Cincinnati, I do a lot of freeway driving. Now there’s nowhere I won’t drive. In the past twenty years, I’ve driven to Washington DC; Pennsylvania; South Carolina; Valdosta, Georgia; Tennessee a few times; and have made a number of trips out to Junction City, Kansas. I still have trouble multi-tasking. It’s important that I’m not distracted while driving. (I don’t fiddle with my cell phone or GPS.) Because of my balance, I can’t walk a straight line, and recently, my pastor (and good friend) said, “Marj drives like she walks.” (He rode with me one day.) That statement is especially true when I’m tired or distracted.