Alana was embarrassed to drive Mom’s Mercedes (“the ostentatious behemoth”) so she wanted to learn to drive my stick-shift Volvo.
Anyone who’s taught a person how to drive a stick shift realizes that they have forgotten how complex it is. Learning the shift pattern and the use of two feet is difficult enough. Developing the feel for the clutch and the gas takes a whole lot of patience on the part of the student and the teacher. But after you’ve driven the stick for a few months, it’s completely unconscious — thankfully.
Alana did not appreciate that I wanted to wear my bicycle helmet.
Early in learning process, we were leaving a parking lot and encountered a car waiting to cross in front of us. Alana stopped, then the stopped car motioned her to go ahead. She killed the engine. She motioned for the other car to go ahead. They killed their engine. Repeat, repeat. Finally, I looked into the other car and saw it was another dad teaching his daughter to drive a stick.
Both daughters were beet red and both dads were just cracking up.
Posted by Bob Devich