#52 A long reach

Do you ever wonder if people can pass on their traits from beyond the grave? I’m starting to think it’s possible.

When I learned to drive it was like a fish learning to swim. I took to it very naturally, it kind of felt like I’d always been doing it. You couldn’t say that about Eric. There was nothing natural about him behind the wheel of a car.

When he had his learner’s permit and my mother was teaching him, he once drove straight through a stop sign. When my mother pointed this out to him he said, “I’ll get it next time.”

I think it was a good thing that my parents moved out of the country and Eric didn’t get a driver’s license until he graduated from college. A teenage Eric with a license would have been truly scary. Even so he was perversely proud of the fact that at one point he had a speeding ticket from every state he’d ever driven in.

When he came to visit me once in Philadelphia he drove me on an errand in his bright yellow Nissan Xterra. It was like being in a NY taxi stuck at a red light where the driver is constantly inching up and slamming on the brakes; only we were just driving down the open road. It made me sick.

Lately, I feel as if my driving skills have not been up to par. A few weeks ago I was backing out of my driveway and backed right into my neighbor’s car that was parked across the street. At the time I blamed it on the screaming 3 year old in the backseat who was taking all of my attention.

A week later, while parallel parking (a skill I perfected while living in Philly) I lightly tapped the bumper of the car behind me. That is not something I usually do--and I have a reverse camera in my car!

I don’t think it could possibly be my own lack of attention that is causing these problems. I think its Eric reaching out from the grave. It would be just like him to do that. Now what else can I blame on him?