Friday, March 12, 2010

Flashback Friday

Welcome to the debut week of Flashback Friday! This new meme's purpose is to have us take a look back and share about a specific time or event in our lives. It will be fun to see how similar - or different - our experiences have been!




Here's how it will work: Each Thursday Linda  will post a prompt which will give you the subject for that week's flashback. Post your flashback on Friday, and come back here to link up!  Linda will post her own flashback on Fridays as well.



There will be generic situations and experiences common to most people. Hopefully they will resonate with you. Even if it's not a particularly fond memory, I hope you will still participate. You can post about your memory however it suits you - using just words, adding pictures, posting a movie or song clip, etc. The only two requirements are (1) it must be relevant to that week's theme, and (2) it must be family-friendly.



So here we go for this week:



How and when did you learn to drive? Do you have any particular memories associated with getting your driver license? How old were you when you got your first car and what was it? Who paid for it?

Unfortunately I don't have pictures of my first car.  But my Dad taught me how to drive when I was fifteen.  I remember when going for my drivers license I couldn't ever get the parallel parking down enough to pass.  After the third try my Dad took me to the next county where all I had to do is drive around  the block.  Because seriously how often does a person have to parallel park.  Yes, downtown Savannah the area that I lived until two years ago still has it but I very rarely went down there.  Now that we live in the country I don't think there is anywhere that still has parallel parking.
I was 18 when I bought my first car.  I graduated from high school and went to work saving my money for a car.  I saved up enough for a down payment and my Dad took me to look for a car.  I wanted a Mustang so badly, but my Dad was a Chevy person. He said we weren't buying a Ford.  LOL  And we didn't.  We went to the Chevrolet dealership and bought a 1980 Chevrolet Monza.  I don't think they even make them anymore.  But it looked the closest I could find to a Mustang.   My Dad had it financed through the credit union where he worked and I paid him every week.
I can also remember a rebellious stage that I went through and I didn't have a job.  He took my keys from me except for during the day so I could find another job.  He told me he would keep the keys until I could continue making my payments every week as we had agreed.  Most kids now has a car given to them and most don't appreciate them.  But I worked for mine and I took care of it.  I knew what it was to have to work to have it.

15 comments:

  1. I like your dad's tough love! We plan to do the same with ours...

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  2. This sounds like a fun meme. Perhaps I will play sometime.

    Your dad was a smart man. I liked his reasoning, well, except that he liked Chevy's. I am a Ford girl myself. LOVE the Mustang!

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  3. This sounds great. Love your memories of driving. I had two flat tires the day I took my driver's test.

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  4. I had to pay for my own car too, and the gas, and the insurance, and the maintenance, and anything else...there was no free ride for me!

    You're so right, it was and still is a good lesson! One I think more young people should learn!

    Way to go Dad!

    Blessings
    R

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  5. Great story. Thanks so much for sharing. Have a great weekend. Blessings, SusanD

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  6. Your dad sounds a lot like mine! And we were a Chevrolet family too!

    Fun story - thanks for playing along!

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  7. I appreciated my car even though my parents bought it for me; however, my brother totally wrecked his. So I guess it depends on the person. He should have worked for his car! Have a great weekened.

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  8. I love flashback posts...I've been doing a Flashback Friday post on another blog (Mylestones) and they've been the most fun to write.

    I know what you mean about kids and cars now. It seems like it's almost a required purchase for a 16th birthday. Crazy. My kids were not given cars at a young age...My 19 year old just got her first car out of necessity as she has off campus placements for some of her education classes this year. They definitely appreciate their vehicles!

    Have a great weekend.

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  9. I had to buy my own vehicle outright, period. I loved it, appreciated it and took very good care of it. I think the work ethic needs to be revived starting with kids buying their own rigs.

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  10. I love your dad's wisdom and the fact that you appreciate it now.

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  11. Here most of the parking is parallel (at least in our town) and I am SO BAD at it. Especially since we have a stick shift and NO POWER STEERING. I cannot parallel park the car! So I sometimes park blocks away from where I want to go and just hoof it. LOL

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  12. I do wish my dad hadn't gotten rid of my mustang....I would love to have that car now!!!

    I was actually really good at parallel parking and did it first try!! kids now don't have to parallel park...not sure my kids could do it!

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  13. Thena,

    You know parallel parking is hard, spelling it is a challenge too! It was the one thing that remains a challenge even after all these years and I will drive someplace else if I can to avoid doing it.

    Love and Hugs ~ Kat

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  14. Enjoyed your flashback. Yep I had to make the payments on mine. Thanks for sharing!

    until next time... nel

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