Share the Road

This has nothing to do with how patient and positive a parent I am.  It has to do with how I drive.

I like to think I am a pretty good driver (so does everyone, right?).

When the babe makes comments from the back about my driving, I politely tell her that I know what I'm doing and don't appreciate being told how to drive by a 4 year old.

When drivers behind me at red lights honk for me to turn right when it is clearly unsafe, I tend to stare them down in the rear view mirror and gesture at the traffic that I will no doubt run into if a turn is attempted.  And no, I don't give people the finger (if my kids are in the car).

This morning, as we were driving to school, the second scenario occurred.  We had just started our commute when this bow tie wearing Camry driver decided to honk and gesture at me at a red light.  I dealt with it in the above described manner and thought I was done with it.

When the light turned green I proceeded to turn right, as did the driver behind me.  He stayed behind me all the way until the next turn.  And the next turn.  And the next turn.

Honestly folks, my heart was thumping and I felt like I was going to start crying by the time we hit the third turn and he was still there staring at me at every light and stop sign.  I've heard of road rage, and there is a lot of it in these parts (DC and Dallas have the longest commute times in the country).  And while I knew I may be overreacting, some worst case scanarios starting running through my mind. 

I wanted to call my husband and ask him what I should do, but I was driving, and frankly, I was concentrating on every move the guy behind me made.  What was I going to do if he was still behind me when I had to park?

I remembered there's usually a police car parked outside an elementary school a block from the babe's school.  Not knowing what else to do, I made a turn towards where I hoped the cop car would be parked.  And that is where I lost my crazy friend.  The police car wasn't even parked in front of the elementary school, so it wouldn't have done me much good anyway.

Was the guy just messing with me, or did he really need to follow my every move for 15 minutes straight?  I had so many disturbing thoughts run through my head, but ultimately I was worried about the position I had put my 2 innocent children in.  What if this guy was really a nut job? 

Should I stop gesturing at people on the road?  Should I not honk at people any more?  Should I drop the parts of me which have become "agressive" on the road?

What would a patient and positive parent do?  Be a good driver, that's what they'd do.