"Crash" Course? Not so much.

Before we get into the details here, I should provide some background:
I received my learner's permit at seventeen, because I'm lazy like that. I wasn't terribly eager to get behind the wheel of a 'moving weapon'.

Especially not with the 'pencil through your head' visual the D&A test provides.

Anyway, I had been taking lessons from my mother. Only on the back roads, only at around 15 mph. Any faster, and she would start panicking.

One day, I was feeling particularly confident in my parking abilities (Don't ask me why), and decided to 'coast' into a parking place by my mother's office building. Except as I decided to do this, my mother began screaming about stopping, and I slammed on the brake.

...Except, it wasn't the brake.

I wound up accelerating into the wall of the building.

Fortunately, there weren't any serious injuries, but the teasing went on all day, and according to my mother, I had nearly killed Katy, whose desk was just behind that wall.

I hadn't driven since, until yesterday.

At the beginning, he had me pull a three-point turn out of street, and we drove around the neighborhood for a bit before leaving.

Long story short?

He got me going 60 on the highway, and commenting on how slow it felt.

Slow.

At 60.

I was terrified of hitting twenty before I got in the car with this man.

Suddenly, I think that maybe driving won't be such a horror story for me. I enjoyed the lesson, and am looking forward to next weekend's.

Anyone else have a nice beginner's story, so I don't feel like as much of a headcase?