Penny For Your Thoughts By: Nancy Whitaker
Was I braver when I was younger or did we just live in different times? I remember when I was 20 (long time ago) I had a husband, 2 little girls at home, worked 6 days a week in a restaurant and went to Ft. Wayne on Saturdays where I took computer classes.
Yes we had some computers back then, but they were big and tricky to operate. I got a fairly decent job after computer school and worked second shift.
Yep, I drove back and forth from Scott to Ft. Wayne getting off of work at midnight. Driving, I ran into bad weather, a run in with a cop, flat tires, got lost a few times and got a few tickets. However, I wasn’t afraid of night driving or the lateness of the hour.
After working for a while I bought a 1968 Dodge. It was one of the “white hat” deals and I felt so proud to drive that car. I bet it would be worth money today.
One late night driving home, I saw a police car behind me. I thought to myself “I haven’t done anything wrong so, I am going to see how fast my car will go and let him chase me.” I pushed down my gas pedal and away I went. Mr policeman was flashing his lights and his sirens were full blast.
Well, he chased me from a small town (Payne) clear out to SR 114. I thought, well I am already in trouble, so may as well and keep going until I reach 114.
Mr. Deputy asked me where I was going to so fast? It was close to 1 am and he probably thought I had been drinking. Nope, I don’t drink. Then, he observed my 1968 car with the white hat in the back window and wanted to see all of the required documents.
I seriously believe he thought that I was driving a stolen car! I thought I would get a ticket but he let me go on home. Thank you Lord!
I still can’t believe how brave I was back then. Today I would be scared to death to drive to Ft. Wayne and drive home at midnight.
One time during my fearless days, I decided to try a new way home from work. Thinking it might be a shorter way and a faster route I traveled my new way home. Wow! Different scenery and it was fun because I felt really smart. Hmmm, I went through Woodburn, Goshen and other little towns that were not familiar to me.
We had no cell phones back then, so I just had to rely on my own sense of direction which was not good.
I thought I would never find my way home. However, I did, but was 3 hours late. My family was scared something had happened to me and were about ready to go looking for their brave, lost Mama. After that I just took the way I knew to work and back.
Through the years, however, my fear of things have increased. Basically I am scared of many things and don’t know if I am being careful or just a plain scaredy cat. I am scared to travel alone at night, scared of water, crickets, chickens, dentists, and doctors.
One of my biggest fears is a mouse. Those little rodents not only scare me, but both my Mom and grandma used to stand on top of chairs and scream and scream if a mouse was ever spotted in the house.
Of course I jumped on a chair too and hollered because they did and till this day I would rather see a crocodile than a mouse.
I think as age approaches us, we tend to be more careful of what we do, where we go and even what we eat.
Yes, I felt invincible when I was young, but now I am just a big chicken.
How brave were you or how brave are you now? What are some of the scariest things you have done? Let this old chicken know and I’ll give you a Penny For Your Thoughts.
