My grandpa drove a 1948 Anglea when I was little. He would drive home from his job at a local warehouse to eat lunch, and if I was at their house I would so and sit in his Anglea and pretend to drive it. I would stand on the seat and play with the shift lever. I loved that car because it smelled like him. One day when I was standing on the seat and “driving” the car I remember being very surprised when my mother’s face appeared in the passenger window and Grandpa’s face appeared in the driver’s side window – and they began pushing the car frantically into the driveway. Somehow the car had rolled into the street – most likely because I had seen fit to release the emergency brake, although I didn’t remember doing it. It was a while before I was allowed to “drive” the car again…

Fast forward about 25 years later. I was living in Indianapolis and my daughter Tori was 2 years old. I drove with her in our minivan and stopped at an ATM. This was back in the day before there were a lot of drive through automatic teller machines, so I had to step out of the car to use the ATM. It was very hot, and Tori was securely fastened in her car seat, so I felt safe leaving the van running while I withdrew money. After all, I would only be about 12 feel from the van, and she was restrained. Imagine my surprise when I turned around from using the ATM to see my little Houdini standing on the driver’s seat backing the car out of the parking space! Fortunately I had left the wheel turned just a bit, and she pulled out of the parking space safely, albeit with a terrified look on her face. I ran to the driver’s side door, flung it open, and stopped the van without incident.

When we don’t learn a lesson, life has a way of offering us opportunities to learn in again and again until we finally get the lesson right. That’s not a punishment, it’s just the way the system works. If the same situations keep popping up in your life, you might want to try to discover what it is you are supposed to be learning – unless you truly are a fan of reruns….