biting the bullet

I have been avoiding this since I came to the US, but I guess it's time I just faced my fear. The following is an email I sent to a friend, but I might as well post it here. haha...

I AM [FINALLY] TAKING DRIVER’S ED. Oh yes, you read that right! And my nerdy self really came in handy when I took the written for my permit. I crammed that manual in one night and very much breezed through the test. The DMV woman said, “Boy, you zipped right through that! I guess the semi-photographic memory (although a bit rusty) does have its advantages. Hahaha. When John is driving, I can spew that stuff out word per word in my head. I don’t say it out loud all the time though, I think that would drive John crazy. Hahahaha.

Walking into that class though….Boy, do I feel OLD! More than 3/4 of the class is either 14 or 15. hahaha. When the instructors told the parents they can leave their kids after the first 15 minutes, I felt like the kids all expected me to stand up and leave too. The two young guys (14 and 16) that I share the car with asked me how old I was “for real”. When I said, I’m 31, the younger one said, “Dang! Really? Man!” I was like, “You didn’t have to say it so loud, you know.” Hahaha. But it was ok. Both of them have driven in the open country before so I said they just need to be patient with me when I’m behind the wheel. Haha.

For today, we did serpentines around rows of cones several times on the “driving course.” I didn’t knock any of the cones down, so that was good! The car didn’t die on me either. AND the instructor said for someone who’s not driven before, I have pretty smooth starts and stops…no whiplash action for the two guys in the back seat. Haha. Oh, and when I went through my last round rather smoothly, the boys were like, “Score!!!” hahaha. My own little cheering squad. So sweet. I don’t know how well I’d have done if I was in the car with the caffeinated cheerleaders though. Hahahaha.