Auto Da Fe

I'm finally really learning to drive. Yes, I took driver's ed. Lessee...hours and hours in the classroom, and a few minutes of terror on the road. Not to mention the terror of driving around on the highway, at sixty-five miles an hour, with my best friend in the car...when I'd only driven three hours altogether. (My dad loves me way too much to be able to stand to see me drive. He didn't even have high blood pressure back then. But I had much worse hand/eye coordination when I was sixteen.)

"It's on the curriculum. You have to go on the highway." Yeah, well, the driver's ed teacher became very sorry he made me do it. Almost as sorry as his face was pale. I actually got kinda interested, since my family's pilot reflexes kicked in for perhaps the first and only time in my life. But almost killing my best friend and three other people put a damper on that interest. I got an A on my report card in Driver's Ed while being perhaps the worst driver in the state of Ohio who didn't have disabilities as an excuse. (Actually, I think most people with disabilities drove better than me.) With great relief, I decided that I was just going to get along without a car.

Yeah, well, except I don't live in New York. I live in Dayton. Not driving is a baaaad thing, especially when it's winter and you have to go get groceries. More than that, though, it puts you out of the running for any kind of real job or life. I need to learn to drive so I can get my life off hold and start doing something. (It became fairly obvious to me that there was no way I could take teaching classes at Wright State without a car, as I would need to drive to go student teach.)

I have a very patient friend named Nancy. My hand/eye coordination is a lot better, I can actually tell where the car is in relation to me and the road, and I haven't killed anybody yet. However, your prayers would be much appreciated, especially for my attempts at reverse.