My Dad is a Feminist

I am 23, my dad is 52. In my family, it is only my dad who can drive cars. Last year, when we went mudik, we went on the wrong time, when everyone crawled out from their houses right after ied prayer. As a result, we caught in a long queue of cars in the toll, and it even started before we entered Cikampek Toll Road. Phew, not a nice trip for us.

As if getting stuck in traffic jam was not enough, we were tested by our car suddenly stopped in the middle of the queue. Dang. My dad, who is knowingly calm, got a bit panic. Sweat ran on his forehead. Our car could not start although my dad had tried the best he knew and could. Finally, he decided to use the service of tow car and our car was towed to the nearest repair shop in Bekasi.

After five hours of waiting our car to be fixed, eventually we could drive it again. With high caution this time. We thought after five hours, the toll road would be emptier. It turned out it did not. It remained dense with cars. My dad was exhausted, but the rest of us could not do anything but stayed awake and accompanied him. We entered Cikampek toll around 4 and exited at 1 pm. Haaaaaa. The worst mudik trip ever.

Although the street was so much clearer that time (you don’t say – it is 2 am), my dad drove his car as fast as possible, so we could arrive and he finally could have a rest. Poor him.

  

Based on that experience, added with his decreasing health and stamina condition, he decided to have someone to drive the car for mudik season next year. My dad’s health becomes worse these days because of diabetes he suffered. He could no longer drive alone for a long time. Last week, he drove his motorcycle to Indramayu and got sick and had to take a rest for almost a week afterwards.

What he does is has me to have driving course and pays it for me.

Yay. I am happy because finally I can drive and do a significant contribution for him.

Ok, so the point of this post lies here, when he asked me to have a driving course instead of……. Marry a guy who can drive, something that popped in my mind last year when we caught in the traffic jam. He decided to trust me and let me learn instead. Yey. So happy.

If he strongly believed in patriarchy, he would marry me with some older guy I don’t know. And let the guy to drive him to our hometown. DOWAN!

My driving course will start next week. So, wish me luck!