Our typical family saturday morning starts at 10:00AM when we all get up from bed and help share to cook brunch, each one pitching in to share in a conversation about significant experiences that transpired in the week.
Last saturday was different. My son, Bernard Kho left early in the morning to report for work, while I stayed snuggled in bed on a lazy morning, a result of my staying up late the previous night.
My short repose was cut short by the intrusion of my daughter, Christina Kho, who slowly snuggled beside me being careful not to wake me up, at the same time wishing I was.
"Mom, are you going to drive me to Oakland to attend the graduation party of my twin friends?", she whispered when I opened my eyes.
"Oakland? No, didn't I tell you before that I have never driven to Oakland? I heard a lot of bad things about Oakland and I don't want to go there.", my voice sounding audibly stronger.
"But mom, my friend told me it's in downtown Oakland, and it's pretty safe. It is going to be in a restaurant called, Le Cheval on Clay St. I have printed the driving directions from Yahoo. Please mom, I really want to go.", her voice sounding so desperate.
"Christina, you know I hate driving on the freeway, especially to places I am not familiar with. Now that I am older, I developed this fear of driving on freeways. I do not drive beyond the city of San Francisco and beyond Palo Alto in the south.", I explained.
After saying that, my recollections of my driving on freeways in the past flashed on my mind. I remembered having driven on freeway 5 from San Diego to Los Angeles, and back to San Diego, when I picked up my sister-in-law, Lolita and her daughter, Didi to stay with me and to visit San Diego in 1986.
I have also driven on freeway 5 from San Diego to San Francisco and back to San Diego, to Houston, Texas from Los Angeles and back to San Francisco in 1990, as an alternating driver (I did most of the driving as Christina's dad slept most of the time) with Christina's dad in 1990, to Monterey, California and back to San Francisco when my son, Bernard Kho, took the open sea-diving test in 1998.
She offered to call the restaurant to ask for better directions and I saw how much she really wanted to attend this lunch party of her twin friends. It didn't take me long to make a decision.
"Okay, why don't you print out another driving directions from Mapquest, to compare. After that, go take a shower and get ready. I will drive you there.", I said with my determined voice.
Her eyes lit and she said, "Thank you, mom. You can also blog about the restaurant and rate it on Citysearch. By the way, my friend called and she said that they are still in traffic on bay bridge, but it's not that bad."
It was 11:30 AM when I showered and put on my clothes. I went to my office and printed a driving direction originating from my client's address in Union City on freeway 880 south going north to the restaurant in Oakland. I also printed a reverse direction, just in case.
From San Bruno, where we live, there are two ways you can take to go to the restaurant in downtown Oakland. You can either take freeway 92 over San Mateo Bridge, or take freeway 80 over Bay Bridge. I compared both directions and I decided to take the bay bridge route. It is shorter in time and distance, as we were already running late.
Before we left, Christina and I had an understanding to work as a team. I, as the designated driver and she, as the navigator. I reminded her to read to me beforehand the exits we were to take, to give me enough time to maneuver or change lane.
We were doing okay for a while, but somewhere along the way, we found ourselves traversing on freeway 880 going south.
She was getting a little panicky and I said, "Christina, I will make an exit on the next ramp that has a ramp on the other side going back north. Meanwhile, look at the directions I printed from my customer's address in Union City going to the restaurant in downtown Oakland. Give me the directions one at a time before we approach the exits.
"Mom, you printed the directions?, she asked surprisingly with a relief on her face. "You are so smart!"
As I was driving back to 880 north, after finding an exit ramp, I became more determined to get her to the luncheon party on time.
We exited on Broadway St. to a nice business district with tall buildings just like any downtown in any city. I have never ventured to this part of the bay area before. The downtown Oakland I feared before was not that bad after all. It is actually a beautiful city, with its own unique character.
We got to the restaurant at around 1:30PM and Christina was so happy to join her friends to celebrate the graduation of her twin friends.
With determination, I conquered my fear of driving on freeways to places I am not familiar with, opened my eyes to an inaccurate impression of a beautiful city I have never seen before, made life happier for my daughter, her friends, and myself.
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