Hold the Wheel and Drive

Poor Lewis has been relegated to the car tonight.  It's a good thing he has a hat, it is freezing out there.

It's only fitting that Lewis is holding onto the Max and Ruby Christmas DVD, which Jack was watching in the car the other day.  Jack loves that show almost as much as Bernie hates it.  Bernie got an email from Groupon not too long ago that was offering a discount on the live show, "Max and Ruby in the Nutcracker Suite."   Bernie said that attending the show would be his worst nightmare!

The beginning of Bernie's territory for work is an hour from the house.  Needless to say he spends a lot of time driving. By the time the weekend comes, he is so sick of being in the car, it is hard to pry him out of the house.  Yet he still helps a lot with carpool to St. Bernard's. As his job is slightly more flexible than mine, he takes on a disproportionate share of the doctors' appointments (especially when they involve shots), dentist appointments, vet appointments and other miscellaneous things that pop up from time to time. He does a lot of the drop off and pick ups at daycare.  He even drives me to work at least once a week. When we lived an hour from my office, I couldn't stand how I wasted two hours of my day in the car.  Even now, I think a 30-minute bus ride is too long.   Bernie never complains about his commute, he just accepts it as part of his

day.

Bernie taught me how to drive (although sometimes he denies this).  He drove me to my high school graduation and he would have driven me to my law school graduation except that he left later than I did to drive other members of my family. Three times he drove me to the hospital, and then drove us home a few days later with a new member of our family. He drove us to the breeder to pick out Jenny, and then drove us there again to pick her up. He has driven us to Georgia and back dozens of times for our family vacations. Here he is driving the boat after we actually get to the lake:

Bernie has sat in a ton of traffic many years to drive us through Bright Nights, one of our almost-annual holiday traditions. As soon  as we can get organized enough to get his permit, Bernie will teach Nick how to drive too.  The literal act of Bernie driving us places is symbolic of how he steers us as a family.  He keeps us moving forward and all of us going in the same direction as much as possible.  Bernie will tell you that sometimes that is entirely impossible. Either way  I trust we will always get to the place we are meant to be.