I’ll let you in on a little secret. Up until this year I never drove…unless you want to count driving golf carts while drinking.
No?
Yes, that’s a little unusual for someone from Colorado where most kids learn how to drive pretty young. What happened? Well…my mom felt that I would communicate when I was ready to learn how to drive. In general, I was a super motivated kid and pushed myself super hard to achieve a number of goals or get pretty close to achieving them. She never needed to push me. Except this time she probably should have. Here are some of the goals I achieved.
Examples
- Be in a music video-check
- Go to tennis opens-check
- Go to college and graduate in 4 years-check
- Go to graduate school and graduate-check
- Travel the world-check
- Learn foreign languages (French and Spanish) check
- Become a Broncos Cheerleader-super close
The point is-I was super motivated about everything-but driving. Why this lack of motivation? I was able to get to where I was going without knowing how to drive. Then, I went to college and was able to get to where I needed to go without a car pretty easily. So, I would continue to postpone learning.
Then, I would travel abroad-where there is transit and I would use it. Over time my lack of driving grew it’s own life. Then there was the fateful day when my boyfriend (hot Australian guy) got food poisoning at the restaurant we were at.
I couldn’t drive him home…and he really needed me to. On that day I felt the beginning of the twinge that the status quo wasn’t working. That I hadn’t become “that girl” you know, the one who everyone has to carpool and you sigh inside when you invite that girl along because you have to manage her transportation.
Yeah, I Was Her
The thing is I really believe in using public transit. And so I did. Then I worked a job where I had a free pass for public transit. And I used it. Over time public transit grew and my lack of motivation to drive was less and less of a problem. Or, so I thought. We had light rail, Uber, and taxis.
But, it’s awkward being an adult who doesn’t at least know how to drive. It’s awkward when dating-what if you need to haul something or help with a driving related task? I’m not from New York where it’s not unusual for adults not to drive.
Despite my amazing ability to get where I basically needed to go..it takes effort, time, and planning. I couldn’t go to the mountains as often as I wanted for snowboarding or just hanging out for the weekend. And, I wanted that additional layer of freedom that comes from being able to jump into your car and GO!
So, What Stopped Me?
It’s surprisingly expensive to learn how to drive when none of your friends want you in their nice cars learning how to drive for the first time. My friends had nice cars that they didn’t want dinged or scratched because of new driver errors. I looked at driver’s ed and felt it was expensive-it’s around $360 and up depending on the package.
Driving is great-but other drivers are a freaking menace. As a pedestrian and a rider of public transit I would see people regularly: texting (daily), doing make up, driving with one leg (I don’t get this one) yelling at their kids, and putting on makeup.
Finally, I didn’t want a car loan. In fact, around the time I started blogging seriously I became very, very anti-car loan. I continued doing what I was doing and the thought of driving kept coming up. I was thinking about the Future. When I had a spouse and kids. I didn’t want to be a new driver with small kids in the car. Then, an opportunity to get an inexpensive car came up!
I Bought A Car Without Knowing How To Drive
My friend had decided to move back East and decided that she didn’t want to take her little car with her. I asked her how much she was selling it for and I knew this was my cash for car opportunity. I bought a 2000 Mazda Protege with 136,000 miles on it that my friend jokingly says she drove like an old lady. She hates mountain driving and she was living in Boulder so she never really used the car.
I bought the car without knowing how to drive and it is one of the best things that I could have done during this year of changing my life. I finally found a third party driver’s ed school that was much more affordable and adult friendly. I am proud to say that I will probably have my license in the next 3 weeks. I will take defensive driving classes once a month for the next couple of months and winter driving lessons as well.
I just got tired of being that girl. I don’t regret taking public transit and would never change that experience. In fact, I will only be using my car for trips outside the city center, to the mountains, or road trips. I will still take public transit-if you don’t use it, you lose it.
By the way-I paid $1500 for the car. I’m in love with it and I call it “The Little Green Driving Machine.”
Vroom Vroom
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Oh, I love it. I think sometimes it’s appropriate to start at the end and work our way backwards (kinda like quitting our jobs and THEN making it work out). It’s certainly very motivational and the car is cute 🙂
Kirsten-I wish that was my car! I have a Mazda Protégé and it’s pretty cute too 🙂 It’s worked out well because I don’t have to borrow a car to practice in…which no one wanted to do LOL!
I’m terrible with cars. It was green 😉
LOL!
I thought that was your car in the picture too. I think even if you don’t do it very often, there is a certain freedom in driving. And I really do think it’s important to at least KNOW how to drive in case there is some emergency, so glad you finally took those steps. Enjoy!
I actually was beginning to get very concerned about this because I even know how to survive in the woods(true story). I just think that it’s a lifeskill that everyone needs to have regardless of how easy it is to get around.
This is great! It is a skill thats good to have really in case of ER or whatever. Though my friend had her license she couldn’t drive a standard and i could so when a car came for sale that she was interested in i test drove it and drove it home for her and she learned through necessity haha. That was 5 yrs ago and she still has the car 🙂
I was also beginning to feel a bit embarrassed about the situation. Ultimately, it’s just an important life skill to have and I knew I had to jump on the opportunity to purchase this car when it came up.
Michelle, I learn something new about you everyday. I never would have taken you for a non driver. My mom-in-law doesn’t drive to this day. She’s a very patient person and has plenty of drivers at her behest. I wonder if she’s ever decide to learn? I haven’t asked….
Haha! I was getting around fine-but I wanted to go on road trips around Colorado and snowboarding especially because I work from home now. Also, I just was over it. But, you DO develop patience, navigation skills, and the ability to manage public transit all around the world. I don’t regret my non-driving years. I’m just ready to get this done.
I’m so happy you bought the car for CASH!!! CASH IS KING!! Welcome to the driving world.
Cash is king!
Congrats on stepping out of your comfort zone and getting your 1st car. Not having a car note is one of the best things ever. I’m sure you will be a great driver.
I almost sideswiped a car…so I appreciate your faith in my skillz! I’m taking my time and focusing on driving well.