Look Out! It's Ms. Daisy Driving Herself!

Man, I love driving. It feels good to sometimes just let your mind wander a bit as your eyes look ahead and try to figure out what each custom plate in front of you says. To feel the power of the engine as you occasionally press down on the accelerator. I guess we all do, those who DRIVE of course!

Face it - once you start driving you become hooked for life on the freedom you earn. Still, there are some of us prefer also to be driven which gives one more time to gaze, figure out license tags, count the passing poles or mile markers or adjust the radio. This is still very enjoyable by all means. Some of us however defy the call to retire the car keys to a younger loved one and still heed the call of the wild, black carpet we call the highway.

One often finds such a person coming from the Nascar Granny Club as one person called it - the Ms. Daisy-Drives-Herself-Often-To-The-Detriment-And-Annoyance-Of-Other-Motorists posse!


Ms. Daisy, God bless her old, lovely Jewish soul, clearly was not fit to be driving at her age given the decline in mental acuity, depth perception and reaction time. Somehow, unfortunately in real life and especially on the streets where I drive, I have noticed that there are indeed quite a number of Ms. Daisy-esque drivers 'driving' beside me on the road. Not that I have a problem with them.

In fact, I champion at times the need for freedom, independence and the wind blowing through one's hair (or hairpiece) as you cruise down the highway. I even think it's comical and cute to see them with their hands firmly grasped at the 10-and-2 and seats right up to the steering wheel which they are peering over. It's sometimes so close that their thick glasses may hit the steering wheel if they brake too suddenly.

This is all cool with me. What is not though is when they either swerve suddenly or even worse gradually into the next lane. What also irks me is when they decide to stay in the faster lane for miles it seems and tend to be driving slower than the slow-moving truck in the slow lane transporting glass tables and lamps. Wow! I'm certain I even saw one of these old ladies swerve so much that I swear she was trying to crotchet a new sweater while trying to keep it under 35 mph.

I'm all for driving but safety comes first and you get to the point in life when you just have to realize that driving yourself is for the birds. I'd suggest at that point to get a driver so you can sit in the back and do anything to your heart's fancy.

Until then, leave the streets safe for us all you lovely Ms. Daisies out there and leave the driving to someone else! Aargh!

Look Out! It's Ms. Daisy Driving Herself!