Joe 1- Looking Back On My First Three Months of Driving

August 30th, 2019 marked a day I’d been waiting to arrive for years. A day that had allured me with promises of freedom, maturity, and independence. A day where I would finally be able to take my life into my own hands and venture out into the world alone. For astute readers who have already read the title of this post, you know that this day was the day that I took my driver’s license test.

For months, my heart had been fluttering with suspense, ceaselessly waiting for the chance to earn that little piece of plastic with my face printed on it. In the last week especially, every clock in existence seemed to have been set to “sloth”. However, after endless anticipation and one of the most gut-wrenching twenty minutes of my life, I put the instructor’s car in park and he told me I’d passed my test.

I’d done it. 16-and-a-half years of waiting had culminated at this moment. I was ready to hit the road all on my own. Elated terror hummed through my veins as I gripped my steering wheel to leave the parking lot. As the car inched forward, I wondered to myself how this new freedom would feel.

As it turns out, it was everything I’d ever hoped it would be.

The change was almost instantaneous. I could drive myself to school, cover more shifts at my job, make plans with friends, and even just run to a gas station to buy a bag of chips and a soda for no reason other than “because I can.” I started to take advantage of Study Hall privilege and drive myself home earlier in the day. My mom needs me to drive to the store to get milk? I’m on it. Sister needs a ride to practice? She can ride shotgun. If this was spreading my wings to fly, I was in outer space.

That isn’t to say that there aren’t some drawbacks with being allowed to drive a pile of debt with four wheels and a gas pedal. For one, I finally understood why so many people are always angry at gas prices. Having to shell out 30 dollars every week knowing I’ll be doing it again before I know it does put a bit of a damper on my euphoria (and my bank account). Also being responsible for my own time management, a skill I notoriously lack, can lead to the occasional headache. Nonetheless, I still feel that there is some satisfaction to be found in supporting your own social life and it isn’t long before I find myself right back in my cloud of bliss.

So. Has driving changed my life in these past months? Absolutely. And it has done so in mostly-positive ways. As with all things, it has its pros and cons, but I think the payoff is worth the occasional downside.