Driving With Jai - Audy Leggere-Hickey

Jai and I met on Joe Neguse's campaign and had classes together at CU. At CU we were both Non-Traditional Students with him being younger than most and me being older.

I whole heartedly encouraged Jai to get his driver’s license and offering to help, went “driving” with soon afterward. Jai was an exceptional human being with a genuinely unique personality, perspective, and wicked smart. Jai’s intelligence let him understand the mechanisms of driving a car long before he got in a car, so along with his usual ability to successfully challenge the unknown, helped him be confident of accomplishing something he had not tried yet.

Key here was “something he hadn’t tried yet.” Clearly he didn’t have his driver’s license and I’m not sure why I thought he had been behind the wheel of a car before, but it soon became clear he had not (and before we put ourselves or people on the sidewalks in danger) we quickly decided not to start on the streets of Boulder, but to use CU East parking lots instead. On the weekends the lots are all but empty and it was a good place to start. As expected he learned all the basics very quickly: gas pedal, brake, foot on brake to shift into drive, adjust mirrors, seat, turn signals, blah, blah, blah, but encountering another car in the lot was show, I mean car stopping. I tend to wear my thoughts on my face and have never considered myself a good actress, but boy I tried. Because as we rounded bends, went through circle drives, or down the streets of the East Campus enclave, there were times I envisioned entering a building or going along the Creek Path in a unique way…with the car. Honestly. But we made it and Jai and I, both being persistent we went back again and again until it was safe(??) to take it “on the road” as they say.

Eventually we drove all over Boulder, but especially the roads to and from the DMV and the routes generally used for testing. However, the most memorable (and perilous) were our drives up to and down from NCAR—he was so happy and proud when he seamlessly accomplished this. During all of these excursions, I almost never thought “What was I thinking and how do I get out of this car?” I remember when Jai called me on his way home from Denver to see if I wanted to take Jackson (my dog) for a walk (we spent many hours walking, talking, learning from each other). I said sure and asked if I was on speaker because it sounded like it. He said “Yes, because I am calling from my car.” At first, I was confused and then I shouted “WHAT?” and 10 minutes later he pulled up in what I call the “Green Hornet”. But boy oh boy were he and I both so thrilled and proud.

Jai was a sincere, forthright, authentic person and a true genuine friend. I learned so much from him. Including why I never personally taught my kids how to drive. Remember: Literally making him come in out of the rain. Not just rain, but torrential rain. Chasing Ralph who had already gone home—and was waiting for us there. Long in-depth discussions on people, politics, policy… Fervent conversations and analyses on why there was a lot to admire about the LBJ legacy (and many other topics)