Maxine Overdrive

I think it is time for another Maxine story.  I know people wonder why I call my mother, Maxine, but when I am telling one of her stories...or one about her...she becomes Maxine to me...and not the Hallmark card Maxine with the rollers in hair, smoking a cigarette while holding a glass of wine.  No way!  My Maxine was a "never let a drop of liquor pass my lips" type of woman...."God put us on this Earth to look nice for others" (yes, she said that...usually when I was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.)...so she would NEVER leave the house without her makeup applied correctly and she was always wearing a matching outfit.

Maxine and Mort

Maxine did not like to drive.  When we were young...I was five and Linda was eight, my father went to school in Philadelphia for a few weeks and would only be home on the weekends.  He told mother that she really needed to drive since we lived out in the country and she may not be able to depend on the few neighbors all of the time.  He bought this big old car...I don't know what kind...but it had the split front windshield and an electric choke...and the back seat (where I spent most of the time on the floor praying we would make it to our destination) was huge.

This is not the car...but this is what it looked like.

There is not enough time and space to write all of her driving misadventures so I will just tell of three.

• Picking up her friend on her way to get her license...(yes, she had to drive one country road to the house and thought that would be okay...since she was getting her license that day)...gets to the house, drives down the drive way...stops and sings out of the window, "I have arrived!"... and Alberta steps out of her house, looks at the garage door and says, "I see you have!"...the front of the car has gone through the garage...Maxine was totally unaware.
• Then there was picking up my sister and her friend  from a Brownie meeting.  Somehow, probably driving out of the driveway after dropping off Linda's friend...Mother could not get the car in forward.  No worry though!  Maxine was a problem solver. She just drove us all the way home in reverse...that's one of the times I was on the floor in the back.
• One more....we had a big rock at the end of the drive way....yes...she did...she drove right over it and got the car stuck. She jumped out of the car...stormed past my father...handed him the keys...and said she would never drive again.  It took him hours (with the help of a few neighbors with tractors and tools) to get that old car off the rock.  All the time some of the young neighborhood boys watching and asking, "Mr. Haworth...how did you get your car on that rock?"

 Soon after, the big old car was sold and Maxine did not drive again...until she was 67 after my dad died...but I will write about those adventures on another post.

Maxine had a life filled with laughter...she would always make an experience into a funny story...even if it was not funny at the time....like her adventure of chasing the purse thief, Stop Thief! , or the bumble bees, Attack of the Bumble Bees! , or the wild animal in the house, Wild Animal in the House .   If you have time and haven't read these, you might enjoy.