Good bye driver's license

 

With only a gulp, I slid the envelope with my Swiss Driver's license into the post box in France. Even though I'm sure that I can pass the required physical, a fainting spell made me doubt that I would be a safe driver. 

At 13, I began counting the days to get me license at 16. My mother gave me a private driver ed course for my 16th birthday so I wouldn't have to wait a year to take the high school program open to seniors but not to juniors.

 

Once I had my license, I would drive downtown about a mile from the house via the towns of North Reading, Wakefield, Lynnfield. I was able to buy my own car, a 1953 Pontiac. For graduation I received a 1956 Ford.

When my first husband and I were stationed in Stuttgart we bought a Triumph Spitfire. With Kimm, my German Shepherd in the backseat, I explored the area.

I adored driving.

Once I moved into Boston, I really appreciated public transportation. There was no need to find a parking spot for the T.

Time passed and in the early nineties I moved to Switzerland and had a company car, but the fun of driving was deteriorating although I roamed Switzerland, Germany and France. There were trains and buses that went everywhere frequently and riding them was far more pleasant. I could relax, read, look at the scenery.

I had exchanged my Massachusetts license for a Swiss one. I realized I didn't need the expense of a car. Savings mounted. I went several months without even getting in a car.

In Argelès, I shared a car with a friend. We only used a tank of gas between February and November because almost everything we needed to do was in walking distance.

I'd go months without driving.

When a new husband appeared on the scene, we did buy a car. It was handier for the trips between Argelès and Geneva than the train. I had mastered one small suitcase and a laptop, but his needs were greater. Add in Sherlock and the car was more practical than the train.

My husband is NOT a good passenger. He drove 99.9999% of the time.

I realized at one point, I went years without driving. A couple of time I got behind the wheel and like riding a bike, you don't forget how to drive.

Every two years after 70 I took my physical to make the Department of Motor Vehicles happy. I told my doctor if he wanted to reject me, he could. He told me he would pass me

In March I got the notice it was time for another physical, but that was shortly after I fainted for an unknown cause. What would happen if I were driving and it happened?

I didn't bother to make an appointment with my doctor. I thought about it for a couple of months, then yesterday I slipped my license into an envelope and dropped it into a post.

People have asked when I tell them about giving up my license, what about an emergency. If it were a life or death emergency, and I was the only person to be able to save them, I would get behind the wheel, license be damned. But chances of that are remote. 

I suspect I will continue to live where a car is unnecessary. It's a good feeling to be free of it, but from time to time, I will take out a memory of this or that trip and smile.