The Long-Awaited Inevitable Planning
July 2024 Issue
Inspirations for Better Living
Mom returned home from grocery shopping and eased her car into the one car garage like usual. About halfway in, her foot slipped from the brake to the gas pedal. She stopped the car before she ran into her apartment, but it was close. Too close. She turned the car off and trembled in the front seat for a while before taking her groceries inside. She waited a couple of days to tell me what had happened.
For the last couple of years, she’d been saying she needed to stop driving and sell the car. Normally she had this knee jerk reaction when she was frustrated and angry with something other than the car. She may have forgotten something important or couldn’t get a jar open or her back was hurting more than usual or putting on shoes made her out of breath. Annoying reminders of tasks that used to be easy to do.
I would respond with, “Let’s not do anything hasty.” I knew she’d change her mind as soon as she calmed down from whatever was bothering her. Mom had a habit of going straight to the nuclear hammer solution instead of weighing options when she got frustrated with herself and her life. Prior to the garage incident, she hadn’t had any close calls with driving that I knew about anyway.
I have been a firm believer in both of us remaining as independent as possible for as long as possible. Selling the car would change life for her and me. Not something to jump into without careful consideration of all the implications. For a while now, I have been making a mental checklist of how to make the transition as smooth as possible for both of us. Almost running her car into her apartment, meant it was time to start the ball rolling with that checklist.
