Lessons I'm Learning About Life

Lesson 16: Driving Is Not As Scary As I Thought

So, my dad took me out for my first driving lesson today.

How can I put this in a way that can be understood?

It was scary, but not scary.

It was exciting, but terrifying.

And it was only in his work parking lot with no other cars anywhere.

It took me a good minute or so to get out of the passenger seat and into the driver's seat. I was scared the second the engine came on. I wasn't sure what to do, and all the things I had learned in driving class seemed to fly out the window.

Take a second and relax. It's not even in drive yet.

So my dad gets in the other side and lets me mess around with the steering wheel a little bit, with it in park mind you, and let me adjust the mirrors and seat and stuff. Instead of turning on the accelerator right away, he had me put the car in drive, and let the momentum of the engine inch the car forward. Since I had my foot on the brake, it wasn't going anywhere, and he knew that.

He let me try some things, like ease my foot off the pedal and mess with the wheel a little bit. Nothing big. Yet.

Once I had finished doing that, he told me to turn. To move the wheel all the way to the left. Scary. There was a building to the left.

It was only like 100 feet away. To me that was a few inches.

After making hesitant turns all around the parking lot, I started to get the hang of it. He was teaching me to make circles around the parking lot and then figure eights. We practiced parking in the spots and although it was crooked the first time....

I WAS BETWEEN THE LINES!

When we had practiced for a while, he asked me to drive down the street a little to the front parking lot. I practiced turning around the building, and parking in a parking spot in the other parking lot.

The trouble happened when he asked me to drive down the road. THE PUBLIC ROAD to a parking lot a ways down.

Normally this wouldn't have been too much of a struggle, except for the fact that another car decided to drive on the road.

You can bet I was scared. I was in the correct lane and everything, but that guy sped right past me and was looking at us funny. I pulled over on the side of the road until the idiot passed us.

I DEFINITELY WAS NOT READY TO GO BY ANY OTHER VEHICLES.

AND THEN IT STARTED RAINING.

It all turned out okay in the end. And this was just my first time driving for an hour or so. We are going again tomorrow, so hopefully it will start to get easier.

If anyone has any first time driving stories to share, feel free to in the comments. It might help me feel better about the whole situation.

Merry Christmas Eve.

Lots of Love!