DRIVING THE BIG GIRL CAR

Last week I was sweating my drive to Orlando hard. Anyone who knows me, knows the Contour, or as she has recently been dubbed, Voldemort. My poor little '99 Ford lives on a wing and a prayer and few choice swear words that have been poured into her over the past 5 years. Suffice to say, she was not up for the long journey to Orlando. So, at the last minute, I decided to take Jared's car, the Cruz. The golden pony. Ok, no we don't call it the golden pony but maybe we should? Anyway, the Cruz is new, has air conditioning and of course is also a manual. 

I "learned" to drive stick shift back when I was a teenager. Seventeen years old, my parents announced they had bought me a car. A very used lilac colored Neon, they paid $200, she was a stick shift and I was terrified. I had never been a very confident driver, failing my written test twice and refusing to drive on the highway until the last day of drivers ed class. My parent's took me on two horrible loops around Palm Coast in the Neon. there were lots of tears and lots of yelling and ya...lets just say my training was never really completed. My father's car died shortly there after and he started driving Grimace (what I called the purple beast in my head) to work. 

Flash forward to a year and a half ago, Jared decided to buy a new car and we came home with the Cruz. He didn't drive stick at the time, so I felt pretty good about myself taking my turn doing loops around the church parking lot, sliding easily from gear to gear. I took off down the road and did swell until stalling at a fresh green light, cars honking frantically behind me, Jared and our friend Mitchell alternately giving advice on how to begin while I did Lamaze breathing techniques. It was easy for me to just let Jared drive.

Last week, I had enough. I swapped keys with Jared, who was frankly terrified of me doing this, and set off. Three days and 317 miles will make you an almost pro. I feel accomplished y’all! I have a skill! Woohoo! Celebrate the little things. If the zombie apocalypse comesand the only get away available is a car with a clutch, I’m your girl!