I planned a road trip with an erratic driver…
DEAR ABBY: My spouse and I have scheduled a long road trip with another couple. All 4 of us are retired with a zest to explore. We share common pursuits, take pleasure in each other’s company and intend to share the driving. The catch is, we just lately skilled the erratic driving of the other gentleman, and my spouse is understandably unwilling to be in the car with him behind the wheel.
Normally an easy-going, good-natured man, he turns into a different individual behind the wheel. His race-and-brake conduct, darting in and out of site visitors, setting the cruise control at 15 to 20 miles per hour over the restrict with a cellphone in hand creates a white-knuckle expertise for the remainder of us, his spouse included. While there’s no road rage, it’s as though beating the navigation’s ETA is a personal competitors.
Needless to say, his “gun and go” ways take the enjoyment out of what must be a leisurely road trip. Moreover, these antics compromise our security and trigger irregular put on and tear on a vehicle. For the upcoming trip, we’re utilizing my vehicle.
How will we broach our concern without compromising our friendship? Absent a mutual understanding main to a change in his driving habits with us in the car, we are going to seemingly cancel our trip. — WHITE-KNUCKLED IN FLORIDA
DEAR WHITE-KNUCKLED: Your good friend is a harmful driver. If you method him about his irresponsible habits while he’s in the driver’s seat, he will likely be offended. (Trust me.) If the 4 of you go and he isn’t allowed to drive, he’ll wind up sulking in the back seat. (Trust me on that, too.) Your best resolution, if you need to keep a friendship with this couple, could be to cancel the trip. Travel together another time, but do it utilizing another mode of transportation.
DEAR ABBY: My 15-year-old granddaughter comes from a household of high achievers. She has a mental sickness and has been in therapy since age 5. Medication has been declined. She has separated from a peer group of high-achieving ladies and moved toward a new group of less educational college students. She also has give up taking part in all exterior actions besides an afternoon part-time job because she needs to save for a car.
Nothing appears to excite her besides work, and she’s happy with mediocre grades, though she says she has high ambitions. She tells me she’s comfortable the best way she is. Something appears very fallacious to me, and I fear for her future. Any advice? — PERPLEXED GRANDPOP IN PENNSYLVANIA
DEAR GRANDPOP: It’s doable your granddaughter wants to change therapists. It’s also doable that her mother and father have chosen not to push her in an educational direction she will not be suited for. From what you could have written, she shouldn’t be solely unmotivated. She needs a car and is keen to work for it. Good for her! Because I’m not acquainted with the household dynamic, this is one thing that must be half of an ongoing dialogue with her mother and father.
Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also recognized as Jeanne Phillips, and was based by her mom, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at http://www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.
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