For the first two years of high school, I took the bus to school. It was fine because I had good friends in my neighborhood, so we rode together. I wasn’t thrilled about how early we had to be at the bus stop. I’ve never been a morning person. Other than that, it wasn’t so bad.
I played in the band during my sophomore year, which was the first year of high school back then. Elementary school was kindergarten through 6th, and junior high was 7th through 9th. Then high school was 10th through 12th. I played flute and piccolo in the band from 6th-10th grade.
During marching season, we had band practice after school. Parents would alternate picking us up after practice and carpooling us to football games. When one of my bandmates was old enough to drive, she would drive us in her mom’s car to the games. In my junior year, I didn’t continue with band because I was pre-med and had to choose between band and extra science classes. So, I mostly rode the school bus home except on days when I had French Club.
Senior Year—Driving My 1978 Mustang
Things changed in my senior year. My dad had passed away when I was a sophomore. The summer before my senior year, my stay-at-home mom went back to work. She took a job as a secretary at our church. So, she needed me to hurry up and get my driver’s license and get a car. That summer, I took driver’s ed at school, so insurance would be cheaper. And I got a used 1978 Mustang, mustard-colored.
I signed up for a parking spot right next to the band room, where I still often hung out with my friends before and after school. Two of my friends went in on a shared spot in a parking lot on the other side of the school. The three of us took turns driving each other to school.
I had a separate parking spot because I was volunteering at the hospital as a candy striper on Mondays after school. So on those days, I had to drive myself. My friends liked when it was my turn to drive our carpool because my parking spot was so much closer to the school buildings.
My Mustang had a tough time at first. The week after I bought it, it stalled out on me in the middle of an intersection. That was scary. My mom and I went back to the used car dealer to complain. They agreed to do the repair work and guaranteed the results. I never had another problem.
Driving as a Teen around Orlando
Other than driving to school, I mostly used the car to drive to the grocery store, to help out my mom who was working now. And I sometimes drove my nephew with me to bell choir practice. On bell choir days, I would go to his house after school, do my homework, play with the cocker spaniel puppy, and then we’d get in the car and head to the church for bell choir.
I had a friend who lived on the other side of Orlando, so sometimes I’d visit her after school. That would’ve been hard without a car because her house was so far away.
Although I was no longer in the band, I still played piano accompaniments for band students for solo and ensemble contests. I was able to drive myself out to the University of Central Florida, about a half hour away, as that’s where many of them had lessons. I was also able to drive myself to and from the contest locations, for example, up to Lake Mary, an hour away.
Having a car meant I could definitely get around more, and this helped my mom be able to work without having to transport me everywhere.
My Mustang Meets the Beach Tide
I also was the designated driver for beach outings with my friend group. We often went to Cocoa Beach or Daytona Beach on a Saturday, and my car was the oldest of the group. So, I was the least concerned about getting sand and salt on my car. Plus, I washed it often; I actually took really good care of it. Back then, I really enjoyed highway driving and blasting my radio. So, we would all pile into my Mustang and head to the beach for the day.
At Daytona Beach, everyone parked directly on the hard-packed sand; it was like a giant beach parking lot. It sounds dangerous and chaotic, but somehow, it worked. I remember one time, toward the end of my senior year, we left the car to walk down the beach to the boardwalk. I guess I was clueless about the time of the tides because when we got back to my car, the ocean was swirling around my tires! Thankfully, the water level wasn’t too high, so I was able to back out. After that, I paid more attention to where I parked.
First Speeding Ticket as a Teen
I took that Mustang with me to college at University of Florida during the summer of my freshman year. My mom worried about how reliable it would be on that two-hour highway trip back and forth to school. She had been driving a really good K-car, a silver Plymouth Reliant, and was wanting to upgrade to a Toyota Camry, on recommendation of her brother. So, in the fall, I went back to UF with the Plymouth Reliant. I was used to driving a K-car because that’s mostly what I drove in my driver’s ed class.
I got my first speeding ticket with that Reliant. In my freshman year of college, I drove my roommate from Gainesville to Fort Lauderdale on a long weekend, so she could visit her family. On the turnpike, we needed to stop for gas at the next plaza. A big storm was brewing, so I sped up, hoping to reach the plaza before the storm hit.
Next thing I knew, I saw a police car right behind me with lights flashing. I remember saying out loud, “Do they want me to stop?”
I pulled over, and when the officer asked why I was going so fast, I got my thoughts mixed up. I said, “I was trying to reach the plaza before I ran out of gas.”
She just looked at me and shook her head, wrote me a ticket, and we were on our way again. I was terrified of calling my mom to tell her about the ticket. But we stopped to see friends of my family, and they told me the same thing had just happened to their daughter. They told me not to worry about it, that these things happen.
I called my mom while I was sitting with them for moral support. She just said, “So, you won’t do that again, right?” That was the end of the matter. I did a lot of dumb things during my college years, but getting another speeding ticket wasn’t one of them.
The Plymouth Reliant lasted all the way through college, graduate school, and the beginning of my marriage. Unfortunately, my husband and I were in a car accident in the first year of our marriage. We came through it okay, thankfully, but that was the end of the Reliant. Its engine never recovered. My mom was very kind to gift us the settlement funds, which helped us buy our new car, a blue Dodge Shadow that we drove for many years.
Exploring Generations 