Seat Belt Saga...

My late mother and my Aunt were a great pair of characters.

My Aunt Hilda, very much alive and a reader of these pages (so I have to be careful what I say) were very close. After my father passed away, my mother was very busy for the first few years, and my Aunt and my Uncle Sid were very helpful to her. As she grew older, my Uncle passed away. Both women were widowed and lived within a mile of each other.

My mother and my Aunt both drove at that time although my mother was getting toward the end of her driving days. She really didn’t start until she was widowed and had her own set of driving rules, but most memorable was no left turns!

She had to plan every trip out with some way to avoid left turns. This is possible if you have unlimited patience, gas and time, all of which she had.

Later on, she stopped driving and went with my Aunt, who is still driving I believe, and as she says, "I can’t walk to well so I have to drive!" There is a madness in that philosophy, but a good one! My Aunt has her own unique set of driving rules, but since she is still on the road, I will refrain from making comments.

So off they went to some place, but my mother never liked the seat belt! She was in it, in my Aunts car, but she could not get it unbuckled! She tried, my Aunt tried, and as I remember, there was no way out! My Aunt drove to a tailors shop, I believe., and borrowed a scissors, and cut the seat belt.

From that day on, when my mother went in any car, she held the seat belt in front of her, but never buckled it. She wanted who ever was driving to be free of a moving violation, so she always looked like she was buckled in.

She just never was!