Drive Down Memory Lane

Today I am going to take a momentary break from Disney Tips to bring you a little glimpse into my past.

Here we have a picture of my mom and Jonah riding in the “Tuck and Roll’s Drive ‘Em Buggies” at Disney’s California Adventure Bug Land. These bumper cars were definitely designed for the 6 and under crowd. There is no need to worry about jarring bumps because the bugs move very slowly.

The thing that caught my eye when I looked at this picture was the location of my mom’s hand, hovering just over the steering wheel. When I saw this, the floodgates of my memory opened and I found myself back in the driver’s seat of a Volkswagen Rabbit (diesel), with mom teaching me how to drive.

My mom’s hand often hovered just above the steering wheel while I was learning to drive. Mom was certainly patient, but definitely panicked during our driving sessions. Most of the time, though, mom’s hand was not hovering over the steering wheel, but tightly gripping the emergency brake, ready to yank up at the first sign of trouble. Her other hand clung to the door handle for dear life. (If we still had that brown Volkswagen Rabbit, I could show you the indentation her hand left in the plastic handle.)

My favorite part about our driving lessons, however, was when mom’s foot would slam down on that invisible brake pedal located on the passenger side of the car. Of course no matter how hard she came down on that imaginary brake pedal, it never seemed to make a bit of difference.

So, evidently, driving in a bumper car with a 5 year old at the wheel is as nerve wracking as teaching a 15 year old to drive a stick shift on the busy freeways of California. Fortunately for Jonah, the bug cars didn’t have emergency brakes!