Dear Reader Column 09-28-06

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Dear Reader,

My husband always likes to drive the car when we're going somewhere together and I've decided I might as well let him. There's a long list of wonderful things I could tell you about my husband, (we've been married almost 30 years and it just keeps getting better and better), but he's a backseat driver.

When I'm driving and he's riding along, why you'd think I was new to the city and had no idea where the market, the dry cleaner and our favorite Mexican restaurant was, because my husband thinks he has to tell me how to get there.

"Turn here. No, don't go that way. This way is faster. Turn left. Look out, that car looks like it's coming over into our lane. I think you should drive a little slower, Suzanne."

"I think you should be quiet, Dear."

There have been times I've simply pulled the car over and surrendered the wheel.

Pulling out of a driveway--it takes two. Did you know that? Funny, I remember doing it solo in my Driver's Ed test, and I passed on the first try. When I'm pulling out of a driveway my husband leans over so far to look out the side window, that all I can see is his head when I'm trying to look for cars.

"All clear," he'll assure me.

But somehow I think I'd be the one getting the ticket. "Officer, the accident is really my husband's fault. He told me it was all clear to go."

I'm beginning to think there's a backseat driver gene that runs in our family and our son has inherited it, because whenever we go anywhere together, even if we take my car, my son wants to drive. And if I don't relinquish the wheel, it turns into a bad rerun. I might as well be driving with my husband.

"Mom, you shouldn't go this way. Turn here. It's faster."

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

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Comments

[T]

your letter sounds very familar. though i feel everyone in my family, me included have been that pesky back seat driver. my mom has even got into the act! when i visit her in a town i lived in for 8 years before marriage and leaving home, she is constantly reminding me the safest way to arrive at our destination. this, even though i visit at least once a month for the last 6 years, is mom's way of being helpful. once and a while i do make a wrong turn! i look at it as a sign some one cares about us enough to help when we don't always want or need it. especially when i'm the culprit!

[T]

Oh, sister. I feel your pain. I have been married to my wonderful, handsome, sweet, thoughtful, romantic, tender, funny, loving, perfect (oops -- this is where it starts to break down) ALMOST perfect husband for 38 years. Why is he ALMOST perfect? Because here's what happens on the rare occasions that I am behind the wheel and he is in the passenger seat (like when we're on a long trip and he is falling asleep at the wheel and has no choice): He is instantly wide awake and alert, sitting up straight as an arrow, left arm along the seat gripping the back, right hand planted firmly on the dash as if to stop himself from hurtling through the windshield as we crash into a tree, eyes on the road and scanning the horizon in all directions, teeth clenched...you get the picture. Makes me feel like a teenager in Driver's Ed, though I've been successfully piloting a car for 40 years. If he opens his mouth - like you - I simply pull over, give him one of "those looks" and hand him the keys.