Yesterday I drove a car for the first time in five years. We were at my parents’ house for Rosh Hashanah this weekend, and I decided I needed to get some experience behind the wheel again. I want to take some New England vacations in the future, and it would be nice to rent a car and just drive out of the city for the weekend on a whim. I haven’t had a car since 2000. The last time I drove extensively was five summers ago, when I rented a car on a business trip in San Diego.
I used to drive all the time. I’d drive back and forth between college and law school in Virginia and my parents’ house in New Jersey. I’d drive all over Virginia. I’d drive around New Jersey when I moved back home. I drove all the way out to Colorado and back one summer. I don’t miss owning a car and paying for gas and maintenance and insurance and having to worry about accidents and such, but I do sometimes miss having that instant mobility.
I worried if I’d remember how to drive, but it came back to me instantly, and instinctually. First I took one of my parents’ cars out for a short spin by myself, and it was exhilarating. I can still drive!, I thought. A little while later I drove my brother and sister-in-law’s car with them and Matt and my brother’s best friend in tow. I wasn’t totally smooth behind the wheel on that second trip, and I scraped the right tires against the curb while squeezing between a stopped car on my left and the curb on my right. I guess I’ve forgotten how to properly judge car widths.
But it’s a relief to know that I haven’t forgotten how to drive and that if I need to do so, I probably can.
I didn’t drive the year I lived in Israel and it was probably the year I was in the best shape because I did so much walking. It was kind of liberating, actually. But I didn’t have any problem picking it up again. Like you said, it comes back. I wish I could be less tethered to the car now but alas, that’s not possible.