Grandpa-to-be

The other evening, I called my dad on the way home from something or other to tell him that I had decided to buy a Garmin, inspired by the Christmas gift we kids chipped in to get for him, highly motivated by the number of times I've had to visit Google maps prior to driving anywhere and then getting lost anyway. (The great sense of direction I once thought I had has gone into hibernation here. Atlanta has a maze of poorly-marked winding roads that offer few alternate routes between destinations, there are no consistently visible landmarks, and the folks who named the roads needed lessons in creative writing. For example, 71 streets have a variant of "Peachtree" in their names.)

Dad had lectured me about driving and talking on the phone when we visited over Christmas, because he had heard recent studies comparing the dangers of talking on the phone while driving with that of drunk driving. (Another article about this came out on Reuters just this morning, in fact). I know that driving and talking on the phone is not a smart thing, but I always tend to think that OTHER PEOPLE are the ones who shouldn't do it. I justify a quick call here and there as "necessary," or longer calls (hopefully with my headset on) as good time management. I do know, though, that it's not a good practice and I need to stop.

So when my father heard that I was indeed driving and talking, he said without hesitation: "If you are driving then I'm going to have to hang up now, because it's the only responsible thing to do as the grandfather of your child." And he did. He hung up. It was pretty much the cutest thing in the world.