Drive

Drive
Here it is dictionary day again and I half expected a doozy of a word.  Something I would need to really think about and study.
Turned out different though.  The word my finger fell on was “drive.”
I do not drive as much since my stroke and particularly not distances.  But when my brother had his stroke (he has since passed) I drove him to the shops.
It was funny but while in rehab I was told I would need to pay around $500 to employ someone on the Sunshine Coast to get my licence back again.  When my bro had his stoke I went straight to my doctor.  He did a few tests and gave it back to me.  He said something I thought was real good.  After a “squeeze” test where he determines the strength in my hands, he said his biggest test is asking the question of himself, “would I want this person on the road knowing my kids are on the road too.”   He determined the answer in my case was yes, so my bro and I would go shopping and get a takeaway breaky together.  Getting my license back cost me nothing back then.
I have always loved driving and have never forgotten the time a mate in another vehicle, and I were trying to lose each other on the Atherton Table Lands.  I thoughts I would duck in behind a tennis court.  Unbeknown to me there was a golf tee off area there.  I will never forget the fella about to tee off.  He had second thoughts when he saw me coming and abandoned briefly what he was going to do.
I learned to drive in a large car park.  My mum would take me down for lessons.  I think it was way easier to get a licence in a country town then.  I will never forget going for my motor-cycle licence.  There were about five of us.  I really did not know my stuff and was last to finish the written test.  The policeman looked at it and screwed it up and said “looks alright to me.”  Only one person failed the driving test.  He ran out of petrol during it.
Apart from going short distances most driving is a memory now.  Thankfully mostly a good memory.