Nana's Last Drive

Before nana became tangled in the insidious web of Alzheimer's there were incidents that were either early signs of the disease or the normal changes that come with age. As with all seniors citizens there came a time when her driving skills began to erode and we as a family were left with deciding when the keys should be taken away.

We were luckier than some of the families who have been in the news over the last several years. We waited longer than was prudent to take away the keys; fortunately God or fate was smiling on nana and us because when the unavoidable happened no one was hurt.

On a bright Thursday morning she climbed into her car with the intention of driving to her Senior’s club. Her garage was attached to the house while the back wall of the garage faced the street. In order to leave her property she had to back out of the garage and loop around the house to reach the road.

Her journey began innocently enough she started the car and allowed the engine to warm up. Her car had a manual transmission and when she put it in gear she bypassed reverse putting the car into neutral. When she depressed the accelerator nothing happened. She must have slipped into panic mode as she than shifted into drive with the engine fully revved. She left skid marks on the floor of the garage a teenager would have been proud of and went right thru the wall.

Just beyond the rear wall of the garage were three trees. Somehow she missed the three of them as she continued to careen across the lawn.

Separating the lawn from the sidewalk was a red brick and wrought iron wall about two feet high. She passed through the wall easier than a hot knife through butter and into the street.

Her street was fairly busy most hours of the day fortunately no one was coming in either direction. As she crossed the street she managed to regain some control over the car turning the steering wheel hard to the right. She made a u-turn jumped a curb, flipped the car onto the passenger side door coming to rest in the middle of her own driveway.

When the police arrived she was sitting on the passenger door calmly asking for someone to help her out of the car. She walked away without a scratch. The only casualty: her driver's license.