stick shift-y

last night i conquered a little corner of the world. a tiny, insignificant piece that barely classifies as a corner to probably most people, but a continent to me! this corner-conquering was about 10 years coming and a little anti-climactic, but definitely satisfying. i'm 26 years old, married, with a college degree and a pretty decent career in healthcare research and i finally. conquered. a. stick. shift. pretty pathetic, you're thinking, because you've been driving one since you were 16 without so much as a second thought? well maybe so, but i've let my fears of somehow killing the engine on the freeway and being plowed over by a semi grow to be monstrous in size since my dad and my friend holt tried to teach me at the age of 17. i'm not really sure where these fears came from, because i was decent at it from the start. i needed more practice, like anybody starting out, but it was just easier to let my sister drive the tercel with the stick and i adopted the mirage...the blessed automatic. then i didn't have to deal with it. i think that's what made me love that stupid car so much...it was old, gutless, and had purple and turquoise accents splashed on the side of its little white body, but it was mine. and it was automatic. stress-free in my book.
i have managed to keep my ridiculous but real stick-shift fears pretty much to myself through the years. when i bought the automatic integra that would have made more sense as a stick-shift, the excuse was that i may have to commute sometime and that would just be a pain...i had that car for the only 2 years in my adult life that i haven't had to commute...oops.
adam has been pretty patient with me and not told me (at least to my face) what a baby i am. i drove his stick-shift honda to work one day last winter when i HAD to. i had my spike heel boots on that day and drove to work up the hills in the avenues. i almost conquered the stick-shift world that day...almost. but something in me still doubted that i had really mastered it.
until last night. adam and i had to drive 2 cars to wyoming to his parents' house. there was no way around it and both of the cars (trucks) were stick shifts. i've known it was coming and stressed about it all week. this wasn't just driving along 7th east to the hospital. this was long distance...2 1/2 hours in the dark...alone with the stick-shift. before we left our house i was so worked up i made adam ride around the block with me while i drove to make sure i could do it. then i set up shop with my water bottle, cell phone ready, and ipod with the rent soundtrack on the lineup. okay...here we go. and then...i just did it. anti-climactic, i know, i told you. ridiculous. i called adam a few times to make sure the phone was working...you know, just in case. but i just started driving and it was actually...fun? but that can't be! please don't tell anyone...especially adam...he might make me drive it to work!