Driving Chronicles #1: I’m 32, and I can’t drive!
I think that the title says it all here. Yes, I am 32, I do not know how to drive, and I have never had a driver’s license. There is a lame story that goes along with it, so here it is:
My parents are somewhat paranoid. When I was in high school, my parents were adamant about me not catching the bus. They even found someone at school with whom I could carpool. My mother took us to school in the morning, and her mother picked us up from school. That meant that I had to go home when this person went home.
Most people my age learned how to drive in high school, in a driver’s training class that took place at their school or another local school. It did not really matter though, since my school did not have driver’s training anyway. I would have had to go to another school to take it.
Well, the person that I carpooled with was a year younger, than I. Still, when she was old enough, she enrolled in driver’s training, and I enrolled with her. So, we went to driver’s training for the first couple of weeks. At that point, my carpool buddy realized that she had too much on her plate and had to let something go. She ended up dropping driver’s training, which meant I had to drop it, too. It is too bad, too because, when we left, our instructor told us that we were the only two passing the book part of the course. 
Now I already mentioned that my parents were paranoid. Not only would they not let me ride the bus, they did not really feel comfortable taking me out driving themselves either. To give you an idea…I have four sisters and a brother. I am the fifth of six. Three of those sisters did not learn how to drive until they had moved out and married, one just getting her license as recently as in the past two years, which would have made her slightly older than I am now when she finally got it. My parents helped my brother learn how to drive. I’m not going to comment any further on that possible double standard. Anyway, the person that my parents fully taught to drive, and it was after college when she got her license, is my younger sister. So, there’s the family driving history.
So, over the years after high school, I have had at least two, probably three permits. However, I can count on two hands, without using all of the fingers, the number of times that I have actually been behind the wheel driving. My brother was nice enough to take me out a few times. There was an empty parking lot that he took me to a few times, and he let me drive around the neighborhood. My younger sister says that I even drove home from church one day. She said it was a very slow ride. 
All of those permits eventually expired without me really ever learning how to drive and without me ever even taking the road test.
After that, my goal was to get professional lessons. As I got older and saw how family and friends try to teach you to drive, I realized that I did not want to deal with it. No one I know has the type of patience that I need to teach me to drive. I would be ready to knock out someone I love for speaking to me the wrong way or otherwise being impatient and not understanding. So, to lessen that type of stress, I decided to try to pay for lessons. Well, who has that kind of money, especially for the amount of lessons that I would need, being that I am obviously road driving challenged.
So, at this point, I am ready to try again. While I do not think it will change my life much, since I will still not have a car (the expense is just more than I can handle right now), I am going for it again. At least when events come up, like ones that I have been passing up because I don’t want to be a burden and ask someone to pick me up and take me, I may be able to rent a car.
I just need to take the written test again, get a permit, and get some lessons. So, I have been reading the “What Every Driver Must Know” book and preparing for the test. I figure that I have taken this written test at least twice, and maybe three times, and done well. It should be no problem. Besides, even though I do not drive, I know the rules of the road.
So, after reading the book, I found a site that had practice written tests. Well, I failed the practice written test! That really got me scared. I guess I no longer know what I thought that I knew, and I do not think reading the the book is helping me. I have found it very boring and tedious. So, I am seriously considering doing this online preparation class for the written test. I am sure that you all will feel better about me being on the road knowing that I have done it if I do decide to take it.
So, wish me luck, and stay tuned. I will keep posting updates on my progress here.
For now, for your viewing pleasure. Here I am sitting in a Viper in grad school, as if I could actually drive. lol. And just for kicks, also from the grad school collection, here I am on a friend’s motorcycle, as if I would ever ride on one with anyone.
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