is it a man thing???

Last night, while driving home from seeing the kids for Halloween, Bill was tired. It wasn't too late (around 8:30), but I guess all that trick-or-treating zapped his energy! Anyways, we'd only been driving for about 10 minutes when it became quite obvious that he was tired. I, being a wonderful wife, offered to drive since I wasn't too tired. He said that he'd be fine. Ok...well, I definately wasn't able to rest knowing that at any moment we could crash into an oncoming car or the ditch. For about the next 25 minutes he continued to slap his face in efforts to stay awake, and make sighs/yawns of exhaustion....as I sit there wondering "why on earth won't he just pull over and let me drive." Then he looks at me and asks, "how are you doing?" I told him that I was fine...and awake. So, finally he pulls over, says that he's exhausted and can't drive anymore...so, I took over...I'd only offered about a half hour earlier!!! This has happened frequently over the years...he'll be tired, I'll offer to take over, and he'll insist he'll be fine....and sometimes, eventually, he'll pull over in defeat and let me take over. Is this just a man thing...a 'gotta prove myself' thing...a 'don't want to relinquish control' thing??? All I know is that if I'm driving and feeling exhausted, I ask Bill to take over for me if we're together...and if he's not with me, I wish he were so that I could have a break.

The thing that makes me shake my head even more is that Bill was so excited when I finally got my licence ( I was 25...shocking, but true)...excited that he didn't have to drive everywhere all the time...excited that he could sit back and relax and let someone else take the wheel. He likes to sit back and enjoy the scenery, which is something better suited to a passenger than a driver (although this has never stopped him!) ;)

I'm not a bad driver either...so don't think it's because he doesn't like my driving. I've decided that either he's nuts...or it's just a man thing (which according to some, could be the same thing!)