Today I went with my mother to teach my sister how to parallel park. She has her road test coming up, and is doing way better than me because I literally learned the maneuver the night before the test. I have done it maybe twice since, both times while downtown and unable to pay for parking. I hate it so much though that I will happily pay 15 bucks at the parking ramp to avoid it. When I took my test, at the ripe old age of 26, I lost points for excessive maneuvers during my parallel park. Otherwise I did pretty good.
Bernie is 22 and most of her friends have been driving for a while, as mine had at that age. I often felt bad that they had to cart me around places, and vowed that I would return the favor someday. Unfortunately, most of my friends scattered themselves to the wind before I got the chance. My problem with driving was poor hand-eye-foot coordination. I would approach a stop light and have to tell my left foot to pump the brake. It was an anxiety thing and essentially something I had to rewire in my brain. Eventually, I got the hang of it, and became comfortable driving. Bern is very comfortable with driving, which, if she doesn’t pass the test, will be the reason why.
I think you have to go in there with a certain amount of nervousness, to keep you on your toes. My test giver laughed when I said I was nervous, and told me there was no reason to be. Um, excuse me, but I’m a bad test taker from way back, and here we are about to take one in a ton of moving metal? No, thank you.
I passed though, which I was grateful for. Afterwards I drove out to Kevin’s to tell him the good news, and bought myself an iced coffee at Tim Hortons. Later my family and I went to rent a movie, and the car died in the parking lot. It took one look at my license and bailed.
I wrote previously about my cars, so I won’t mention them here. This is about driving. Driving gave me a freedom I didn’t know was possible. Suddenly I was driving myself to work, not having to wake dad up early to take me. I could stay at rehearsal late and not have to worry about him waiting out in the parking lot. I could go see my friends whenever I wanted. I could explore the world on my own.
If I could go back in time, I suppose I would have tried to get my license earlier, but at the same time I’m glad I waited until I was ready instead of panicking my way through it because I wanted to celebrate the milestone the same time as my friends. In the end I found that I loved driving more than I expected. Sometimes to me driving is like painting a picture, or composing a song. I can’t really explain it. I’m just glad I got over my fears and got behind the wheel. I am hopeful that Bern will ace her test, and join the world of the driving. Next up, getting my husband behind the wheel. Now, that will be a task.
Ham 'N Eggs 