by Rachelle Benson

Created on: March 10, 2009

CRUNCH! "Where did that oak tree come from? " I asked. I don't know how many times I asked that as I backed out of the same driveway week after week. Fifteen and in Dad's little Nissan pick up, I think I put out more tail lights than any other country gal ever did that summer. You know those oak trees play tricks on you. They can move at any given time. And they did. All summer long! It never mattered whether they were in the rear view mirror, they would just appear out of nowhere. And there I would be, having to replace ANOTHER tail light and cover on the truck. Good thing I had a good babysitting job.

That summer was one of the best summers of my life. Although Mom and Dad will never realize it. We were building our "dream home" on the five acre parcel that they bought in the country. Living in the little dark duplex was soon to be over as I spent the days with Dad high on the roof. I don't think tans come that dark anymore without cancer. And when we were done roofing, hanging drywall, picking up nails out of the driveway, I always got to drive the truck around the property for clean up.

"Every good woman should know how to drive a stick shift," Dad said. So I learned over that summer. Filling the back with branches, underbrush, my sister a couple of times. "I don't think my truck has ever been so clean" Dad boasted. I just knew it would be parked in the high school parking lot soon enough and it couldn't be covered with Mill dirt! Dad worked in the Mills growing up, and his truck always had grime from sitting in the parking lot of the old paper mill.

Clutch, brake, gas. Thats all you really need to know. Right? RIGHT! I doubt I could count how many tail lights I put out as I would put it in reverse and try to back up. I couldn't tell some days if I was learning to back up a truck or ride a horse. It would buck as I put my foot ever so gently on the gas. BUCK! It was the following year I think I began to notice the neck issues that have lasted until the present. I truly believe it was the self inflicted whiplash that summer that has permanently damaged my neck. Sometimes it would lunge at the trees as I put my foot on the gas and released the clutch to get going. It took all I had to not give up on mastering the timing of letting out a cluth while pressing on the gas. Today, as my oldest is turning 16, I truly wish I had an old pick up for her to putter on our property and learn how to back up into an old walnut tree. We only have a few Oak trees and I am kind

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