100 Reasons I love America: #4 Driving

I don’t like to drive. So, you must be wondering why it is my fourth reason, in no particular order, to love America. And here, I introduce to you, my shadow problem. In India, my parents were my shadows. Anywhere I went, anything I did, my shadows existed to oversee and approve or redirect my efforts. For the most part, this was awesome. I took rational, decent decisions, guided by my shadows. A few times, I rebelled, in a good way. I stood my ground that I would study Computer Science and not Biology and that I would fly alone to the US to study further.

“You are the first girl in our family to fly alone like this to the US to study”, my mom said this, not in a proud, we-are-so-proud-of-you manner, more like an angry, how-could-you-do-this-to-us manner.

(Another rebellious act was my marriage. That’s a long story though and for another post. Think 2 states.)

But other than these minor transgressions, I enjoyed the protective halo that my parents drew for me and rarely ventured out of the halo.

Enter US and I now had to be my own person. This included the scary, exhilarating prospect of learning to drive a car. There were several times in the beginning where I would drive s-l-o-w-l-y in the right most lane and because I was scared to change lanes, would continue driving in the exit land and take an unneeded exit. I also totalled my first car in an accident. My poor green Toyota Camry did not make it but I did. I digress though.

The ability to drive by myself and get lost, multiple times, by myself and figure out a way out of nowhere was an experience I doubt I would have experienced in India. Which brings us back to why I chose driving as a reason I love America. Because, it gets me out of my comfort zone, teaches me how to recover time and again from failure and oh, also gets me to places.