DRIVING AGAIN

          DRIVING AGAIN

     Once I thought I would never drive a car again. I had  gone back to Rio, where I didn´t really need a car, with so many buses and so much danger when you´re driving. Fourteen years later, fourteen years older too, here I am, coming back to Brasilia, a city where everybody needs a car.
      At first I was insecure about my driving skills. What happens when you´re over sixty and you haven´t been using those skills for 14 years? “I have to renew my driving license”, I claimed, trying to gain time. I needed to take a breath before facing the traffic and the new roads. To tell you the truth, I only had time for a short breath – renewing the license was a quick action and then there I was behind the wheel, having my granddaughter in the back seat. Just the thought of my precious passenger made me tense and a bit afraid. It was too much of a responsibility for an unexperienced elderly driver.
      Then, just like magic, it happened. After a short prayer I found myself driving the car, using my hands and feet as if they were the ones who knew how to do it. It was a strange experience. I didn´t have to think. My hands and feet did the job, and my eyes helped them, watching attentively, of course.
      I expect to drive better and better – “practice makes perfect”, but for now, I feel I was able to overcome a challenge . Very good for a grandmother.