Just Nod Obediently

Gates will open for you

That’s me in front of the car I back into our garage every day. Photo provided by the author.

I was just reading Brenda Mahler’s story about how little she enjoys helping her husband back their 33-foot long RV into a parking spot. I have my own story to share about spouses helping to back cars into parking spots, though my car is a tiny Honda Fit. (In India, the Fit is called the Honda Jazz.)

I’m 45. I have NEVER been good at driving four-wheelers.

That’s me on my former vehicle of choice on the day my car went for service. Photo provided by the author.

When I was eighteen, my dad and brother tried to get me to learn how to drive, and it didn’t work.

I’d tense up every time I had to drive a stationary car up an incline, and I’d go into a panic when the car would go backward instead of forwards.

I couldn’t master the delicate combination of pressing the brake to prevent backward movement, the accelerator to make it go forward, and releasing the clutch to engage the gear. If you’ve ever driven a stick-shift in the nineties, you know what I mean!

I even engaged a driving school instructor to come to pick me up every day for fifteen days so that he could teach me how to drive. His car had a separate clutch, brake, and accelerator on his side, the passenger side, and it took all…