I successfully put Matthew’s insistence off for a couple of months. I knew it couldn’t work forever, but the longer I didn’t have to deal with learning to drive again, I thought, the better. Unfortunately, the time came to learn. We were on a seven-hour road trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and nearly five hours into the trip Matthew became tired of driving. He took the next exit and pulled into gas station for my first lesson in stick shift driving. Hesitantly, I moved into the drivers seat, and listened to a brief explanation that was supposed get me on the road almost immediately. He pointed out what each of the foot pedals were, explained in words how to start a manual transmission, at what speeds to move into the next shift, how to downshift, and reminded me to always use the emergency brake when I parked. Matthew concluded the lesson within ten minutes. He kindly added that I may have difficulties getting into first gear on my first try, but with just a couple practices in the gas station parking lot, I should be ready to drive to our destination without a problem. At first I thought he was right, as I easily sped out of the gas station and onto to the highway, wondering why I had put learning to drive a manual transmission off for so long.

That dream came to an end one and a half years later when I married the love of my life. The problem: he had a car, and it was a stick shift, something I had never bothered to learn. It had been over a year since I had driven. In fact

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Upper Peninsula, Transit Authority, Ford Taurus, , stick shift, gas station, manual transmission, drive manual transmission, drive manual, stalled tried, able drive, shift driving, stick shift driving, learning drive, learning experience, able drive manual, finally able,