Driving for the First Time

A few days ago I finished my last driving lesson. I first started to practice driving in the month of March, and it was definitely an experience I will never forget. At first I thought I was a pretty decent driver. I didn't make too many mistakes, and even if I did do something wrong it was not that big of a deal. But that was only the first week I started to drive; after that things started to get a little crazy. The first time I ever drove was in a parking lot. Actually it was in my school, Niles West's parking lot. My mom wanted me to get a little experience before I went on my first driving lesson, and that was the perfect place to practice. I was very nervous, because I had no idea how well I would do. I also made my friend come along and practice with me, which made me feel less nervous about the situation. I finally got the courage to drive, and it turned out that I wasn't so bad. I had a few problems with pressing too hard on the accelerator, and I did miss a few stop signs, but other than that I thought I did pretty well for my first time. After I was done my friend started to drive, and she seemed good at it too. Then I heard a loud noise, and I felt the car jolt a little. It turned out that my friend drove the car right up onto the curb while she was trying to turn. I started to laugh, since at the time the mistake seemed bad. But soon I would realize that people make much worse mistakes than that. About a week later I drove on the road for the first time with my driving instructor and my friend. I did a lot better than I thought I would. I didn't go too fast or too slow on the roads. I quickly figured out when the right time is to start pushing on the breaks. Plus I did not get honked at once, which I was very proud of. After doing so well on the first day, I might have gotten a little over confident. I thought I was better than I really was, and soon I found out the hard way that I actually was not that good. After that day I couldn't stop driving; it was just so fun. I would make my mom take me driving basically everyday. But that soon ended after I made one huge mistake. My mom told me to turn so I listened to her, but then I realized I did something very wrong. I turned into the wrong lane; the lane where the traffic was going the opposite way as I was. Thankfully it was not a busy street, and we didn't crash into any cars. I quickly drove back into the correct lane, and rapidly drove home from embarrassment. That was by far the worst mistake I had ever made while driving, but it made me realize that I was not the perfect driver I thought I was. After that incident I didn't drive for about two weeks. Then one day my dad offered to take me driving, and since I had nothing better to do I decided to go. Of course things did not go the way I planned, and it turned out to be not such a fun experience. We live on a very narrow street; barely one car can fit on it. Because of this my dad became very cautious, and was nervous that I would hit the other cars parked in the street. He would not stop yelling at me that I was too close to a car, and when I moved away from that car he yelled that I was too close to the car on the other side of the street. There was no pleasing him, and I should have known that things would just get worse driving with him as the day went on. My dad did not want me driving too fast, so he yelled every time I went 35 mph or higher, even if that was the speed limit. He wanted me to go 20 mph under the speed limit, which of course is unreasonable and dangerous. No matter what I did he seemed like he was angry about it, so as the day went on I just got worse and worse at driving. It is no fun driving in a car when someone is yelling at you the whole time! I finally decided to drive home, and I never wanted to practice driving with my dad again. After that I became very discouraged, and I didn't drive for a while. I needed to realize that no one is perfect when they first start to drive, and that everyone makes mistakes. It would take a while before I actually became good at driving. Even my parents aren't perfect drivers, and they have been practicing for years. I did eventually start to drive again, and even though I still made a lot of mistakes I did not let that discourage me. I also started driving with my dad again, and things have gone a lot better than the first time I drove with him. I realize now that I am not the perfect driver, but I am getting better and I'm learning from all the mistakes I have made in the past.