Walt Disney World: Day 5

Swimming at the main pool called the Dig site. We planned to leave early afternoon so we decided to spend the morning at the pool. The pool at Coronado Springs is set up like a mayan pyramid. It has a water slide called the Iguana slide that is the main feature.

At 1pm we decided we needed to be going but...the kids were all suddenly hungry and had to eat again so we ate at the Pepper Market for the last time and started on our journey home. Instead of leaving at 1pm, we left at 2:45 pm. About 3 hours into the trip home all was well until my mother in her infinite, distorted and quite paranoid wisdom decided that since I took one hand off the steering wheel to scratch my head, that she was terrified. I thought she has lost her mind. So did everyone else in the car!

A little background on my mom. She was hit in the rear by a mack truck many, many, years ago and every since that she has been a very nervous driver. She, nor the car was seriously hurt but she never got over that. Instead of focusing on the cars ahead of her she focuses on the cars behind her whenever she drives or is in any car. In addition to that she has glaucoma , has had vision surgery and had very little vision in her right eye. She no longer drives herself anywhere and has not done so in years. What she has become is a paranoid back seat driver. My father still drives and that is scary--with the 2 of them in a car. My mother turns the right side mirror so that only she can see it and tries to verbally control my fathers driving from what she can see in the side mirror. They end up yelling and screaming at each other because my father does not do what my mother says he should do. She does not let the driver drive and I fear she will be the cause of them getting into a wreck one day. She sits in the front passenger seat and is so nervous that she is mashing the carpet on her side like she is driving and all way yelling to slow down, watch that car, let's pull over and let that mack truck behind us pass. CRAZY!

Well, I am the designated driver for them on any long trip and have been the driver for them for many years. My mother is in her 60's and cannot see and my father is in his 70's. So, I scratched my head for about 1 second and put my hand back on the steering wheel. You would have thought I took both hands off the wheel. My mother began her paranoid ramblings and I told her that what she was saying was ridiculous and it was! I told her to please let me drive and to just be quiet and let whoever is driving her drive the car without all those ridiculous commands. She got upset and said that I said she was ridiculous. I told her that was not the case. What she was doing was and everyone else in the car was in agreement with me and they even told her so. They even told her that I did not say she was ridiculous. She got even more upset.

I was not speeding at all. The speed limit was 70. I was doing 60. I had an itch and took 1 hand off the wheel to scratch my head for about 1 second and she was out of control. The car never wavered from its path. It was just her paranoia. I refused to back down as she will be the cause of a serious wreck someday with her and my father. It is not going to be with me. She has to know that what she is doing to any driver she is with is a distraction and is very dangerous. The way she is was one of the reasons I appointed myself their driver for any sort of long trips. My mother harasses my father constantly when the he is driving and I was in the car for a lot of that and I realized I was in personal danger. I put my daughter in summer camp every single day all last summer instead of letting her spend the days with them while I was at work because of the fear of them getting into a wreck with her in the car. My daughter says my mother harasses my father so much when he is driving that she gets upsets and begins to cry for them to stop yelling at each other.

This match took place on I95 just at the point where I needed to change highways. Of course with all the yelling I missed my turn and we traveled about 45 minutes out of our way. I had to stop for directions. I pulled off at the closest gas station, told all I would be getting directions as due to my mothers paranoia I has missed the fork in the road where I needed to change highways. I did not know where I was. I got good directions and eventually made in to another junction where I could pick up the highway I needed. Of course by then night was falling and a thunderstorm rolled in. I know my mother was terrified even more of the storm but she never spoke another word to me about driving once I announced that because of her I had missed my turn. She just sat with her arms crossed leaning forward. At night she can see even less. I reminded her I had driven my this family to WDW 3 other times before, to North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, you name it and we have never had an accident. She just needed to be quiet and let the driver drive. She did not say anything.

We got safely home around 10:45pm last night without any other incident.