By Keysha Drexel
Juanita Tant said she is living proof that you are never too old to dream–or to appreciate a cool car.
The 83-year-old resident at Golden Living Center in Riverchase recently had a wish granted when she took a spin in a Smart Car, a mini-compact two-seater designed to zip all around town and still get 40 miles per gallon.
“I think I probably left fingernail marks on the seat of that car, because they had to about drag me out of that car I loved it so much,” Tant said.
Aubrey Pittman, a salesman at Crown Automotive in Hoover, took Tant for a ride earlier this month in a Smart Car from the dealership as part of the Golden Living Center’s new Golden Wishes program, said Jennifer Sinelnikov, a recreational therapist at the center who told Tant about the new program.
Developed through the center’s activity department and the brainchild of administrator Tom Kent, the Golden Wishes program aims to get seniors to keep dreaming and setting goals, Sinelnikov said.
“Part of having a dream is setting an end goal, and we think that this increases the quality of life for our seniors because it encourages them to continue dreaming, to continue working towards goals and having their wishes fulfilled,” Sinelnikov said.
And while taking a ride in a very small car might seem like an odd wish to some people, Tant said there’s a reasonable explanation as to why she was so set on hitting the road in a Smart Car.
“The whole thing started about two years ago,” Tant said. “My husband, Wallace, and I were backing out of the parking lot at our church, Saint Luke’s (Episcopal Church) in Mountain Brook, and this lady in the teensiest, tiniest car I’d ever seen was backing out at the same time. Since two cars can’t occupy the same space at the same time, we found ourselves involved in a fender bender. My little heart went pitter-patter when I first saw that little car.”
But while her car bore no physical reminders of the event, Tant said she couldn’t stop thinking about that Smart Car.
“I love teeny, tiny things, and I kept thinking about what it might be like to drive one of those cars,” she said.
So for two years, Tant’s eyes were drawn to every Smart Car she saw on the road, and the dream to drive one someday persisted.
“It became kind of like a game with whoever I was in the car with, and I could always spot the Smart Cars before anyone else,” Tant said.
But before she got a chance to drive a Smart Car, Tant had an accident that took her out of the fast lane.
It all started with a bird, Tant said.
“Somehow or another a bird got in the house, and I do not like birds, never have. I was home alone with our 14-year-old poodle, who also does not like birds,” she said. “I heard all this commotion and went to see what it was and saw a bird flying around in the bedroom. I turned to try and get out of there as quick as I could, and that’s when I fell.”
By that time, Tant’s husband of 64 years was getting short-term care at Golden Living Center.
“I would come visit him and so I knew about it, and then I came here for short-term care after I fell,” she said.
About five months ago, the couple decided to become full-time residents at the center and now share a room there.
“I can’t drive anymore, but that didn’t stop me from thinking about what it would be like to ride in a Smart Car,” Tant said.
So when Sinelnikov told her about the Golden Wishes program, Tant put pen to paper and outlined her dream.
“I turned in my submission for my wish, and the next thing I know, Jennifer tells me that a man is going to bring a Smart Car up here and take me for a ride in it. I couldn’t believe it was really going to happen after so long,” she said.
Sinelnikov had contacted Crown Automotive, who happily sent Pittman to the Golden Living Center to meet Tant.
“They even called and asked Jennifer if there was any particular kind of Smart Car I wanted to ride in, and I said as long as it’s not a blue one, I don’t care. I’ve never had anything but bad luck in blue cars,” she said.
Pittman took Tant on a hour-long ride to downtown Birmingham, all around the city and back to Riverchase.
“It was so much fun, and I loved every minute of it,” she said. “Those cars are surprisingly comfortable, and you don’t feel like you’re crammed in them or anything. If I could still drive, I would definitely buy one.”
Tant said though she does miss driving, she was a bit of a late bloomer when it came to getting behind the wheel.
“I think my first child was 5 years old before I learned to drive. It wasn’t such a big deal back then like it is now for teenagers to get their driver’s license as soon as they can,” she said. “You could walk to a lot of places, and you always had family to go somewhere with or to take you to town if you needed it.”
Tant was born in Birmingham and moved to the Bluff Park community when she was 6 years old.
“My mother had respiratory problems and so the doctors told her that maybe if she moved out of the city and up on the bluff, the fresh air would help her. I’ve lived in this area ever since,” she said.
While she didn’t learn to drive as a teenager, Tant said she can remember cars being an important part of her youth.
“I love the beach, and I can remember everybody loading up in the car and going to the beach every summer,” she said. “Back in my teen years, Panama City and Laguna Beach were the places to be, and we’d plot to have our friends’ mothers drive us down to the beach to stay at the cottages.”
After she met and married Wallace and the couple had their two daughters, Cynthia and Melanie, Tant said she found herself driving more out of necessity than for pleasure.
“I was a domestic diva for about 64 years, and that included a lot of running around town with the kids,” she said. “My first love, as far as cars go, was this little two-door Honda that Wallace bought me. It was small and easy to park. I ran the wheels off of it.”
And Tant said she’s satisfied that if she could still drive, she’d be running the wheels off a Smart Car.
“I truly believe that you are never, ever too old to have fun. Besides, I’m just a girl. We get to be girls until we’re 90, and then we’re ladies.”
Tant said she also believes in the value of setting goals, dreaming and making wishes, no matter how many candles are on your birthday cake.
“Never hesitate to have fun. When you stop dreaming, stop having fun, stop thinking about what is next, well, that’s when you get old and die,” she said.
Tant said she sets new goals all the time and always looks for creative ways to accomplish them.
“Wallace has for years built these beautiful, intricate dollhouses for everyone but me,” she said. “And I’ve always wanted to go New Orleans, so Wallace made me a dollhouse that looks like it came right out of the French Quarter with little wrought-iron details and everything.”
Tant also gets to take the road trips to the beach that she loved so much as a teenager when she stays in her son-in-law’s condo in Gulf Shores.
“Listen, you have to keep broadening yourself. Otherwise you just shrivel up,” she said. “I think it’s important at my age to have goals, dreams, wishes and maybe, the occasional vendetta.”
