by DyAnna Robbnsun

Created on: April 23, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

I took drivers education my senior year of high school. I liked the class and I passed with flying colors. Unfortunately, I didn't have a car. I didn't get my drivers license until about four years later. So by the time I was really ready to get a drivers license I had to learn to drive all over again.

My husband had a little blue Volkswagen beetle. Of course it was a stick shift and they didn't teach that in my driver's education class. So he had to teach me. Sometimes when people ask me why I got divorced, I say it might have been because he tried to teach me how to drive a stick shift. It was an absolute disaster from the very beginning. I was afraid of this little car and because I was afraid, I never mastered the process.

My husband would take me to an empty school parking lot to teach me. I must admit, he wasn't hard on me at all, but I felt like the dumbest person on the planet. I did everything exactly as he told me to do it, but somehow I couldn't get that little blue Volkswagen to do anything I wanted it to do. I learned what it feels like to be on a bucking bronco. I also learned that it's pretty easy to turn one of those little suckers over. It's pretty easy to put it back right side up too.

My poor husband spent most of the lesson saying "slow down you're gonna turn the car over." I kept saying then I don't want to learn how to drive it. I'd pout and even cry and he would calmly explain that I needed to learn because it was the only car we had and in an emergency I should know how to drive it. So, I kept trying. I don't know why I couldn't get the hang of it. I'd watched him and I knew how and when to move my hands and feet, but to no avail. The thing just got the best of me. Eventually, I absolutely refused to try to learn anymore.

I did eventually get my drivers license but not in the little blue Volkswagen. I took the drivers test in my mother in law's big blue monster. This car was like a boat on wheels. It wasn't a stick shift, and it had manual steering. I only took a few lessons from her before I went for my drivers' license. The first time I took the test I failed because I was really too afraid to go the speed limit. I think the person testing me realized that. The second time I took the test, I had the same person testing me as the first time. I don't remember why I failed but I was really upset. The third time I took the test the person who tested me the first two times saw me and said you'll pass today because you don't have me. Guess what, I did pass the test, even though I hit a parked car. But that was the first and only time I've ever hit a car.

What's even funnier is that about 15 years after I'd gotten my drivers license, my best friend wanted me to drive from Seattle to California with her. Guess what kind of car she had. It was a little blue Volkswagen. And it was a stick shift. She gave me a few lessons before we left and I didn't turn anything over so we figured I was ready. I sucked up my fear and drove on the freeways only. When it was time to exit, we'd switch places as soon as we could. When we arrived in California, I told her I would not be driving anymore. She thought that was a good idea too. I don't think I scared her too much and the kids thought the bucking car was a fun ride.

Now I have a teenager who will want to learn to drive in a few years. I don't think I want to be the one to teach her, no matter what kind of car I have.

Learn more about this author, DyAnna Robbnsun.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.