Coming of Age: Mom's Car

My mother shared with me the story of her first car, a 1974 Ford LTD. At 14 she started working in the diner at the Franklin Trading Post, and also assisted in raking the blueberry fields during August. My mother got her driver's license at the age of 16, but her family only owned one car, so she wasn’t able to use the car very often. At the age of 18, she had finally saved enough money to purchase her own car. 

      When she bought her car, she had to also purchase her own auto insurance policy. She purchased her policy from the Dwight Brown Agency, where she has now been employed for 24 years. She says this was a coming of age experience for her because it was a pretty big deal to have your own car. “It gave me independence, and responsibility. It was up to me to pay the expenses for my car, and it taught me responsibility at a young age.” I think that many children nowadays take having cars for granted. Now, more often than not, kids are given cars, and don’t really have to work for it like my mother did.

Rachel Bunker (Honors Challenge)