The slo-mo effect

It was one of those bright blue Sunday afternoons that Kansans know only come with a bite of chill in the air. The usually warm-day haze of humidity and gunk in the air, that can be seen as a rather brown haze on the horizon was gone. Replaced with a bright, glowing yellow sun, and a blue sky that could be used to perfectly describe the color sky-blue. There was a bit of chill in the air, but not quite enough to see your breath, or even for a jacket.

The keys tumbled in the air. The bright sun shooting little twinkles on the metal as they turned end-over-end. Things seemed to be moving in slow motion (slo-mo as they say in the 'biz'). I have experienced the slo-mo effects only a couple of times in my life, and I can pretty much remember them.

The first time I was cognizant of it was in grade school, during a pick-up neighborhood baseball game. The batter hit the ball and I was playing shortstop I think. The ball sailed up and up and was coming right for me. I jumped with all my strength. It felt like I was ten feet in the air, making a dramatic catch that even Cookie Rojas would envy. Time slowed to a crawl, my mind was working at regular speed, but my actions, and everyone's actions were in slo-mo. The ball hit my glove and everything sped up to normal speed again. I caught the ball, the batter (Kenny, maybe?) was out. I'm certain the play was not nearly as dramatic as I had imagined it being. Just as sure of that, as I am that I probably only jumped about 6 inches off the ground (maybe 10, but I was a really fat kid, and I'm not sure I could have jumped 10 inches).

As the slo-mo effect came into being, the keys were tumbling and turning through the air, No. 1 Son was half visible behind the van. He was walking around behind to get to the driver's side as I was heading to the passenger door. His head was cocked slightly to the side in that way that he does, a sly smile on his face was made crooked by the one eye that was squinting in the bright sun. Calmly, and with purpose and confidence, he raised his hand and allowed the keys to hit his palm as he closed his fingers around them. The slo-mo effect subsided just as he gave me a knowing wink, his face full of pride and expectation.

I remember what it was like. To be a teenager, to still be new enough at driving that getting to do so is a treat. A treat that you feel should be cherished because who knows when it will come again. It is all at the discretion of the parents as to whether a teen with a learner's permit will get to drive. I think I know exactly how he felt at that moment.

"I've Never Felt More Alive"

I took my 14 year old to the Department of Motor Vehicles today to get his driving learner's permit. He had to take a test and get his picture taken. He received a paper receipt with his photo on it. Kansas these days will not give you a license or ID card on the spot. Instead they mail to the address they print on the card. I suppose this is to ensure that one actually has access to address given.

After he received his permit, I took down to Forbes Field to practice some driving. Other than NASCAR, Need for Speed and other driving sims on the computer and game consoles, he has never before been behind the wheel of a real automobile. He was excited, but confided in me that he was a bit nervous. I couldn't allow it to show, but I was a bit apprehensive as well.

We took the Insight. Which, for those not in the know is a gasoline/electric hybrid that I purchased about five years ago to save money on fuel for my daily 70 mile one-way commute to work. The car is very small...tiny really, and it is manual transmission. I wondered if first learning to drive on manual transmission vehicle would be too much for him to digest, but figured that people did exactly that for the many years between the mass production of cars, and the invention of the automatic transmission. Plus, if he does any damage, at least it is to my car and not to the wife's minivan.

Forbes Field used to be the Forbes Air Force base. It is huge and with almost regular like streets. Now it is a smallis commercial airport and the home of the 109th Air Refeuling Wing of the Kansas Air National Guard. What is great about this area for learning to drive is there is very little traffic, and there are real streets with real street signs. So he could drive at 10 miles per hour, and not impede the flow of traffic for regular folks. Practically no one else was there.

He started out slow and choppy as one would expect. Getting started moving the first time proved to be the most challenging. So much to remember; put the clucth in when stopping or you'll kill the engine, apply some gas - but not too much - when starting from a stop, let the clucth out slowly, apply the brakes evenly and smoothly, but also press the cluth when slowing down or you'll kill the engine.

After about 10 minutes off engine killing jarring popping starts, we finally got going. Drive about 100 feet and hit a stop sign. He had to stop three times before he actually made it to the sign. After about 15 minutes of driving around he was really starting to get the hang of it. His take offs were much smoother. He still has some problems with mashing the brake down after he is almost stopped, causing us to jolt forward and the seatbelts to lock.

At one point, he got up to 17 miles per hour and was grinning from ear to ear and stated, with all the excitement one could imagine, "I've never felt more alive in my life!"