taking the wheel

Learn to drive stick:

Saturday night my good friend said goodbye to my boyfriend saying she might never see him around again. Why, you ask? Because on Sunday he was going to teach me to drive stick and that would inevitably be the end of our relationship. She obviously knows me too well.

Sunday morning we drove out to an empty community college parking lot and I climbed into the driver seat. I said "I promise not to yell at you as long as you are not a jerk and don't yell at me."

Fast forward to now. I have decided that teaching someone to drive is the hardest most frustrating task one can take on. I mean think about it, how did your first few times behind the wheel go? Was there arguing, screaming, slamming on the breaks, slamming car doors, silent rides back to the house? See what I mean.

Back to the parking lot. I seemed to start off well. If you told me like a checklist of actions I could execute them and come to a stop, or shift into 2nd. Now, the trouble starts when that checklist is thrown out and now I am told "OK, go." Ah I can't remember that whole series! My teacher doesn't understand that those 3 or 4 simple steps seem overwhelming to me because it's second nature to him. The frustration starts.

So I only kill the car once or twice in our first laps around the parking lot. Then a few other cars enter the lot. I hope they are here to park, but lucky me, they are 15 year old kids learning how to drive. These kids add to my stress level, the anxiety kicks in and I start killing it it more often. You can see both myself and my boyfriend pausing and taking deep breaths before each exchange of words. We are both trying not to lose it.

Boyfriend decides I should take the road (yeah in case you are wondering that is a road as in not a parking lot) to another parking lot with no people. He almost has to turn the wheel himself to get me to turn out of my comfy parking lot. As we are exiting the lot (against my will) of course...I kill it. We are sticking out of the lot blocking both lanes of traffic on the road. I start panicking (even more than I already was) and kill it again. Now I am sweating profusely but 3rd times the charm and I get it started. We make it to another parking lot where I have to calm my nerves before making a few more circles.

I build some confidence and get on the road again to go to yet another parking lot. I decide to try parking. Short version, I can't park. Also, anyone who can parallel park a stick shift, on a hill, in San Francisco deserves a gold medal, Nobel Prize, and a PhD in driving.

I'll practice again soon. Maybe I'll make it to the streets by December.

P.S.= points to me and my boyfriend for keeping our cool the entire time