Do you remember the first time you drove a car? I vividly
remember driving my dad’s farm truck on the public road for the first time. It
was HARD! I had been driving the truck around the farm for several months, practicing
backing it up to the barn to retrieve hay for the livestock and 4-H animals.
But, driving a truck on a dirt road is not the same as driving on macadam – it’s
a totally different experience! The driveway on the farm is nearly a mile long,
so I had plenty of space to bounce around before hitting the state road. The
morning I convinced my dad to let me drive to the MOPS event in a local church
where I volunteered, I was so psyched! I felt so grown, pulling that truck out
onto the paved road! But, when I did, the wheel felt so loose that I struggled
to keep the truck between the lines on the road. I tried to accelerate, but
felt like anything above 25 mph made the wheels wobble too much, so we crept
along. What should have been a 10-15 minute drive stretched into 30 minutes as I
tried to calm my sweaty palms and palpitating heart. I was so thankful to reach
our destination and so defeated that my first driving experience was so much
harder than I thought it would be! Fortunately, as happens with most things, I
got better with practice and eventually felt comfortable driving.
Primero got his driving permit on Saturday, after failing
the test the first time. He was so stoked! I discovered I didn’t need to add
him to my insurance until he gets his license, so he was able to drive right
away. (Funny side story – the first time I asked to drive my parents told me
they needed to add me to their insurance and that it would take time, so I
think I had my permit a week or longer before they let me drive. Come to find
out that the whole insurance thing was probably not true….) So, I let Primero
drive. He drove us to the orchard to pick strawberries and then back home. He
drove us to pick up his sister and he even drove at night! Last night, after a
few more miles on the road, Primero admitted that driving wasn’t as fun as he
thought it was going to be. I smiled to myself, remembering feeling that same
way many moons ago.
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As the mother of a mid-teen, your post strikes terror in my heart ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip about insurance!
I remember being terrified! And I was just in a big, empty parking lot, not going over 5 miles per hour. But it felt so much faster.
ReplyDeleteNot as much fun as you think it will be, but awesome that he got his permit.
That's too funny that it wasn't as fun as he thought it would be. I felt that way, too. Your truck driving story is terrifying! I remember my parents being frustrated trying to teach me to drive and so I had a learner's permit until two weeks before my 22nd birthday. I got into the bars in college with my LEARNER'S PERMIT, because in NY it was a photo id. :) Good luck to Primero, sounds like he's doing well with the driving thing!
ReplyDelete