Theresa picks up our grandson, Grayson, from preschool every Wednesday to spend a few hours plus dinner. He is three and a half. Out of the clear blue he says, “Asses.” “Asses is a bad word.” ” Asses.” Theresa says, “Grayson.” He follows with, “You can only say asses when you are a big boy like my daddy.” Asses.” Then he starts on the rules and regulations on the next word he can’t say.
This kind of unexpected behavior has returned to our house. For my wife it is in the form of Grayson. For me, it has to do with driving. You see, I started my “observations” part of my driver education teacher training. I rode around with 11 young drivers this week. This was an experience in unexpected behavior. The point, of course, was to teach me to expect this behavior … to be comfortable with a lane change to the left lane where the driver checks his blind spot over his left shoulder but steers right, making essentially a lane change to the right … to expect a near perfect driver at the end of their hour to make a perfect stop, look left to right, and make a right turn on red – right into people turning left on the green arrow. The instructor/owner of the driving school already had his foot above the break so we only lurched — bet those left turners on green arrows will look a little harder at the magnetic signs on a car. The owner tells a story of a time a young lady driver heard a song she didn’t like come on the radio, squeal, and take both hands off the steering wheel to change the station … while in a long left turn … only after the turn had she realized her mistake … OMG. Another one of my teachers told me one of her students went home and told her mother that the car she drove must have a mind of its own … she only had to gently push the brake and it continued to stop on its own … perfectly behind the line. Her mother told her it was the teacher. She said no way and then later asked the teacher, “Do you have a brake in the car?”. They had to show her … she didn’t believe them.
I’m sure I will have other stories once I start teaching “beside the wheel”. Meanwhile, I got to start learning the unexpected IS the expected.
John's Recon 