Driving!

This weekend, I got behind the wheel for the first time in my life. It doesn't matter that I stayed in the high school parking lot or that I inched along the road at 5 mph, I began my driving journey. I believe driving is a major milestone in a person's life. While driving transports people from A to B faster than walking in a literal sense or in high school identifies upperclassmen and lowerclassmen, at its core, driving to me equates to a form of freedom. It's the ability to get myself where I need to go at the time I need to go without hounding my parents, which I believe is a crucial measure of the independence one gains between childhood and adulthood. 

I drive very slowly right now, but this is normal. This morning, I went out to the parking lot for my second time ever and I managed to actually use the gas pedal! My turns are getting smoother and I'm starting to work with the car rather than try to force maneuvers. Oddly, when I'm driving, I find myself thinking about Henry Ford and his revolutionary idea behind the automobile. I keep thinking about the fact that I'm just a high school kid…and I'm learning how to drive by the design of Ford's vision to make driving accessible to everyone. It's for that very reason, that driving wasn't only an accessory, a luxury, or a skill requiring a high degree of intellect, that I find myself driving amongst millions of others today. 

I've got a long way to go, as I've driven a total of just over 3 hours. While this is a routine process for everyone who has learned to drive, I wanted to write about embarking on this experience today because I began another milestone of my life. It's another one of those bucket list items that "transports" one from childhood to adulthood.