I was not what you'd call the normal teenager when it came to wanting to learn to drive. I didn't look forward to obtaining my drivers license as everyone else did. In fact, I had never been behind the wheel of a car until my sophomore year in high school. I know mom and dad must have worried about my lack of interest as they were always trying to get me to go out "practice driving".
Well, as with all passages of growing up, eventually I did sign up for drivers ed. It was the summer of 1985 and I was a sophomore in High School. Classes were provided (for free) in my school. You had so many required hours of classroom training, then you were to have so many hours of actual driving.
Walking into the classroom with so many other faces smiling and chatting about getting cars and going here and there, I froze for a moment. I had to admit I felt a little jolt, maybe a prick of excitement. The moment went away fast when coach came into the room and set us all on the path of responsible drivers ed training.
Classes were like any other class in school. We had to sit and listen. In this class though, I was learning about the rules of road. We all watched the mandatory teenagers behind the wheel movies and after completing several test I somewhat less enthusiastically than the others, presented myself before the highway patrol officer to obtain my drivers permit for the actual driving requirement.
A few weeks later, I got my schedule with a list of others who'd be driving in the car I would be in. When the day came, I was sick to my stomach. I said I hadn't been behind the wheel before, but I had been. I know backing a car out of the garage doesn't count as driving, but the end result of that episode was a broken side mirror. I should have shut the car door before I "tried" backing the car out.
It's a good thing I was last to drive this day. I don't think coach and the others would have been able to endure the rest of the day otherwise. After stopping for a refreshing drink and snack, we all piled back into the driver's ed car with me behind the wheel. I thought I was going to hyperventilate. Where was the ignition? Which was the gas pedal and which was the brake? Oh well here goes...
After throwing the car into reverse, drinks, snacks and prayers were all over the place. Coach tried to mask the fear in his voice, but I heard the quiver. He asked me, "haven't you ever driven before?" Giving a shake of my head, he sighed and began to explain to me when backing up you gently and briefly touch the gas to get the car moving. I wanted to call it quits then. I didn't want to learn to drive!
After a bit of reassurance, I tried again. Putting the car into drive I looked both ways and took off. Va-room.. there's a stop sign ahead, slow down, you can't turn the corner at thirty miles an hour...screech...slam. Coach had applied the brakes on his side of the car. I'd turned the corner at high speed and nearly plowed into the sides of several parked cars.
I knew in that moment, this was one of "those" drivers ed experiences which would be told to other classes. I wanted to cry, I wanted out and I wanted my mom. Coach pried his foot off the brake and said, "let's try this again. Slowly put your foot on the gas and keep the wheel straight". Off I went again, slower and all over the street, but I was headed straight.
Well, I'm happy to report the day ended on a positive note. I quickly learned the proper way to handle a car. I accomplished my required hours of driving. I managed to provide some comic relief for everyone. I only fell asleep once in the car while someone else was driving, and at the end of it all I got a full fledged drivers license with the ugliest picture to grace the card. I was now a driver.
I'll never forget the end of that first day of driving. Coach literally got out of the drivers ed car, knelled down and kissed the ground. He was so happy to have made it out of there alive. I'm famous by the way. My story is told to all the other soon to be drivers who take drivers ed in school.
Several years have passed since that infamous day. I still don't like driving, but I can safely and confidently get behind the wheel when I do need to drive. I've only had one ticket in all my twenty almost thirty years of driving and I've never caused a wreck, that is an accomplishment for a person who doesn't like to drive.