Judy makes it to Teaneck despite highway fears

I have a fear of driving on highways. It’s not that I’m afraid of driving. I have a fear of getting lost. Jerry, on the other hand, has no fear of getting lost, but does it all the time. To say he’s got a bad sense of direction is an understatement. He makes Hansel and Grettel look like Lewis and Clark.

Attempting to overcome my fear, I’ve spent recent time driving on highways throughout New York and New Jersey. With moderate success, I’m happy to say that I’m writing this article from back home.

Years ago when I started driving, I mastered driving from Brooklyn to Forest Hills, and then from Forest Hills to Woodmere (when we were looking for a house), and then from Woodmere to Brooklyn, where my parents lived. I got over my fear of driving next to 18-wheelers. It was easy. I just sucked in my breath when they got too close, and put my foot on the gas as hard as I could when I passed them. Another tactic I had was planting myself in the correct lane that I would eventually have to exit on, whether it was one mile or 20 miles ahead. 

Another standout panic attack that comes to mind, is the time I took my mom to Forest Hills, to visit her sister-in-law who wasn’t well. Being that It was 10 years since I had moved out of Forest Hills, and had not been back since, I guess I wasn’t that familiar with the route back to Woodmere. And this was before GPS!

When I saw the Harlem-New England sign ahead of me, it induced symptoms of a heart attack; when I saw signs warning “last exit before toll,” I was surprised that the Van Wyck Expressway now had tolls! It had, of course, been 10 years since I had driven that route. Needless to say, I was on the wrong road, headed in the wrong direction.