I'm Driving for Real

I grew up in west Texas. In a city where it took 6 driving hours to get to El Paso, 6 hours to Dallas.

There in between those two large cities, there was a lot of land with long straight roads. And for whatever reason, fourteen year-olds were allowed to get a “for real” drivers’ license. I planned for it, taking Driver’s Ed the summer I turned fourteen, days after being an eighth grader. And by doing so gained my first high school credit before starting high school. 

Driver’s Ed in Big Spring, Texas that summer was windows down and aiming the tri-angular vent windows just so. I found myself sitting behind a steering wheel for the first time where my feet could manage the gas and break pedals. The only other times I had sat behind the wheel were while sitting on my Dad’s lap as he drove our car.

That summer after completing the course and passing my driver’s test, I walked out not with a permit, but a full-fledged license to DRIVE.

Then all I had to do was convince my parents to let me take the car out for a drive by myself.  That took awhile. I had learned to drive in the school’s car with an automatic transmission. And our family car was a standard. There was a third pedal to manipulate. I practiced on our driveway which consisted of 2 long concrete sidewalks, so I went up and down it. I am not remembering how long I practiced, and finally my mother agreed to let me drive to the Little Red Store 2 blocks up the street. I remember pulling out onto Scurry Street and putting the car into first gear which was the only gear besides reverse, I knew. But soon it wasn’t sounding right, and just as I got out of sight of my mother, I ground it into second gear!  I might have been all legal, I could tell there was still a lot to learn!

That’s how I felt when Martin Lively left my house yesterday. He had spent hours getting the computer I bought for myself to use at home, up and running.

Once the programs were all set, he turned and began to show me the how to’s of the Google Drive. 

I have to tell you that old feeling came back, the freedom to manipulate and find my way on my own. There were documents in my very own computer that were already there! It felt like I got the keys for real. And no one was watching! And all there was in front of me was open road. It is the same feeling I got when I went into the library at the University of Texas, and then a professor gave me a pass to go into the stacks upstairs! 

There is a lot to learn and you all have the keys. It starts with turning, the key, the page, or yourself and heading down the street, into a library or exploring the Google Drive in your very own computer! 

Let’s keep learning, start with asking questions, developing opinions, making comments. We have two great chances coming up, both at the Miami Civic Center, both beginning at 5:30 pm. April 2 you can make your comments to officials from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality about the air permit for the Argo poultry digester and on April 10 at the EPA’s Open House about the Tar Creek Superfund Site. 

I hope you will attend both. I will be collecting my thoughts, and bringing comments and many questions and will probably drive myself there!

Respectfully Submitted ~ Rebecca Jim