Finally, a Reason to be President
Woman in the Middle | February 12, 2016I never have had much interest in being president of the United States. Too many crises to solve that would interfere with my nightly TV watching. Sure, being president has a lot of perks. There is the kitchen and chef to provide your meals and snacks. There is the housekeeping staff. You get chauffeured around every where you go. A photographer is on hand to record your every step so you don’t have to. There is even a private plane to take you where ever you need to go. But none of that made me want to be president. Then, yesterday, I read something that would have made me throw my hat in the ring in a heart beat.
Secret Services agents taught 16-year-old Malia Obama how to drive. If I had known that was a presidential perk I would have done everything in my power to get into the White House. Michelle Obama was ready and willing to do the job, but the Secret Service thought it would be safer if they did it.
The single hardest thing I have had to do as a parent was teach my two daughters how to drive. I had a deal with my husband. He is way more patient than I am and he was supposed to take the lead role in teaching our two girls to drive. Funny, though, while he was at work I seemed to be the one pressing the imaginary brake and white knuckling it though those 50 hours of behind the wheel driving anyone under 18 has to have before you can get a license in our state.
I try not to think about the many near misses I experienced while sitting in the passenger seat with an inexperienced driver behind the wheel. One of my daughters just could not grasp the “right on red” concept. Stop, look, and turn when it is safe. One day she headed towards a red light and, without stopping or even slowing, and certainly without looking for traffic, she careened around the corner. I about had a heat attack, said some bad words, and she was in tears, “but you said it was OK to turn right on red!!!” I about threw in my keys at that point.
Unfortunately, my children took after me and were not natural drivers. Don’t get me wrong, I am fine now. I think I am a pretty good driver. My husband says so. But it took a little bit of extra effort back when I was 17 to get comfortable behind the wheel. Who knew such a thing could be genetic? I am happy to report that both girls are good drivers now. The only accident either one has been in was caused by a drunk driver and was not her fault. Happily, no one was hurt in that accident.
We have been through our share of crisis with our children. Nothing life threatening, thank goodness, but certainly things that made us worry and lose sleep. But there is nothing you do as a parent that puts both you and your child’s life on the line like teaching them to drive. To get the Secret Service to teach my kids to drive I would deal with any world crisis and a difficult congress besides. The Obamas have no idea what a perk that is!
It took me two times to pass the driving portion of the test, I’m embarrassed to admit, but I’m a good driver now.