Surprises

For the first time since The Diagnosis in 2007, I drove myself from Pasadena to my doctor's office in Santa Monica. Fifty freeway miles.

I also drove to the herbalist's office in Reseda--another fifteen miles, and I drove there en route to Santa Monica. The last time I drove there by myself (last year) it was in my then-still-manual-transmission truck, and had it kept raining, I was going to call a tow to get me home because I thought my control of the clutch was so poor that it was going to be too dangerous to drive myself. The rain stopped, and I made it home safely, somehow... but I did not at all enjoy it.

And today, it was no problem. Yeah, the hand control does still need some adjustment to make it more comfortable, but still--I did it.

A nice change.

I wasn't planning on doing this, but something came up and my wife couldn't drive me as she usually does, so... me having to drive myself was a bit of a surprise.

Being able to drive myself was an even nicer surprise.

And it was significantly more comfortable to handle stop-and-go traffic with a hand control than with the foot controls I've used all my life.

Now that was a really nice surprise.