Driving Miss Daisy

Phew! I am so happy to be home and on the couch. Alive and well. My heart is beating a little faster than usual but that is because I just got home from a 2 hour long driving lesson with my hubby.

We are borrowing my in-laws car for a little while because it is an automatic and we know my limitations as a late-to-driving learner! In the UK we would have some 'L' plates on the car to tell other drivers to beware, but for some reason they have nothing like that here...maybe I will make my own. I probably should.

I love that my husband believes in me, but I think my action today reminded him I am still very new at this whole thing! The very almost "tapping" of a car in a parking lot when I hit the accelerator instead of the brake - I am not sure if that was before or after I forgot I was in drive and not reverse. Yikes! Don't worry, we checked just in case and the other car was more than fine. And I was actually going very slowly when the confusion occurred but it felt to me like I was going 150 mph.

Apart from that the driving was pretty uneventful. I managed to stay in my lane most of the time, and keep at the speed limit, I even had to make a turn across traffic and merge lanes which I did without too much screaming. I am terrified most of the time but I like the feeling I am getting more used to being behind the wheel. I am far from being confident to go out alone without the reassuring voice and instruction of my loyal instructor but I hope that will come in time.

We have the car for about another week and we will be going out every day - and from the look of the weather I will get some driving in the rain practice in too!

I am still very fearful when I am driving, my shoulders tense up and I hold my breath a lot! I am going to cash in a promised shoulder rub in a minute, and I am praying that the fear will dissipate as I become more and more at ease in the driving seat.

I can't wait to feel natural behind the steering wheel, I guess it might take some time, but I hope and pray it doesn't take too long. I just need to keep going forward before I lose my nerve. There is no turning back now - literally because I haven't mastered U-turns!