Car shopping is officially my least favorite activity. I'm really glad to have a car during the day (Freedom!!) but I hated the stress of actually deciding and making the purchase. With this second car, I went to the dealer by myself. There was a Honda Civic that looked really promising. I got there, and it looked junky around the edges, smelled weird, and the air conditioner made a really loud, annoying sound. I just didn't like it. I didn't want it. This Honda fit was sitting right next to it and was newer, had lower miles, and was the same price. I asked the salesman about it, found out it was a manual transmission, and decided to test drive it. It had been about a decade since I'd driven a manual. But driving this didn't go as bad as I thought it would. It was a fun little car to drive.
Anyway, 6 hours and no lunch later, I decided to buy the car. That's when the buyer's remorse set in, of course, the main point of regret being buying a manual. But in the six weeks since I've had the car, I've gotten much better and more comfortable with driving it.
One night I was feeling especially worried and regretful, and I prayed for help. I told Heavenly Father that I would work hard to learn how to drive the car, but would he please help me to have hope and become totally comfortable with driving it? The next day, I went to stake choir practice--which I had decided to drive to instead of getting a ride from my neighbor--and a woman named Virginia asked me to give her a ride home. I said sure. When we went out to the car, I told her that I was still learning how to drive a manual. She said, "Oh, I love stick shift. I miss my old Kia that was stick shift. That's what I always drove up until recently." We chatted about it, and she ended up offering to teach me/practice with me. I felt so encouraged. It was an answer to prayer!
I did have a lesson with Virginia, and she really, really helped. She made me feel like I could do this!! Aaron drove behind me recently, and he thought I had improved a lot.
I've made a rule that in the future I can't buy a car without eating lunch and taking one night to think about it before I buy it. Hopefully, I don't have to apply my rule for a very long time. I don't know if I still would have bought Deb (the Honda Fit) if I had done these two things before buying her, but I know I would have felt more confidence in my decision if I had taken a little more time. But it has been great having a second car, and I'm a better person for having to master stick shift. At least that's what I'm telling myself.
Give me another month, and I'll be like this kid.
P.S. There is a whole genre of youtube videos dedicated to 20 something boys teaching their girlfriends how to drive stick shift. I feel I could write a dissertation on my issues with this.
P.P.S. The youtube channel World Driving has excellent instructional videos--the British guy who does them keeps the camera on his feet and hands and doesn't bother to show his face. The younger, millenial guys (who are driving really fancy stick shift cars that cause me to ask, "Is it you or your parents in this income tax bracket?) feel the need to show their faces regularly which is not very useful.
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