Blog #14

Driving Lesson

“Alright, now put it in drive,” my dad said as soon as I had fastened my seat belt and finished playing with the seat settings to make myself comfortable.

            I couldn’t believe that I was finally doing this.  I took a hold of the shift lever with the full intention of pulling it back into drive.  I’ve seen my dad do it countless times throughout my life.  So I thought how hard could it be?

            I pull…but the lever doesn’t budge one bit.  The car remained still.  “Ummm…” I say as I attempt to pull on it again.  That’s when it finally clicked as I felt the button on the head of the lever.

            “Press the button,” my dad said no sooner had I pressed the button and pulled the lever to the drive position.

            And then…it started.  My first driving lesson.

            I could feel the adrenaline rushing through me as my dad told me to go around one of the parking lot light posts.  We were at the same place where he taught both my sister and my brother to drive many years before me.

            “C’mon!” he says as I glanced at him, “Give it a little gas.  We’re not in the street right now.”

            I was very hesitant to push down on the gas pedal.  Even with a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel, I could feel how weak my grip was.  I was scared.

            As a kid, I grew up telling myself that I’d never drive a car; that I didn’t want to drive a car for fear of being involved in a car crash.

            Yet…here I was, behind the wheel of my dad’s BMW.  Even though I never wanted to learn to drive, I always knew that I would one day end up behind the wheel, learning to drive.  And here I was.

            Stars began to twinkle and flash in my vision, and my tongue started feeling like a big wad of cotton.  But nonetheless, I pressed down on the gas pedal and the car lurched forward slightly.  We drove from one end of the parking lot, the light poles passing by slowly.  In the distance, a flock of geese grazed on the parking lot lawn.

            “K, now do a K-turn,” he said as I stopped in one of the parking spots.  I reached down and grabbed hold of the gear stick, and pushed it into reverse.

            “My tongue is all tingly,” I said, rotating the steering wheel to the left to start the K-turn maneuver.

            “Your tongue is ‘tingly’?” he asked as he looked at me.  I couldn’t see him, but I could sense that he was struggling to hold back laughter, a big grin spread across his face.

            I shrugged with a slight nod of my head, and he started laughing.  “It’s true!” I said as I finished the K-turn, pulled the gear stick into drive and lightly stepped on the gas pedal again.  I was already nervous as hell, but my dad’s laughter was making it even more nerve-wracking.

Even though I never wanted to learn, I always knew that it was inevitable and that it would eventually happen.  It was the most intense moment of my life.  It truly is…an experience of a lifetime.