Two Milestones

I took the plunge.
After weeks of meandering through back roads and venturing through stoplights only to drive around the corner to our subdivision, I decided to drive the standard all the way to church. That sounds more decisive than the reality. Actually, two of my supporters (my husband and a friend who were in the car) made the decision for me while I wavered about whether I should or should not.
Gearshift in hand, I nosed my way out of the neighborhood and turned left through the intersection lights, and we were off! I am happy to say that I made it through red lights and stop signs without the car cutting out. It's the first time I've driven without it happening once. Perhaps the little prayer I said before starting had something to do with it.
With cars all around me I managed to shift up and shift down, stop and start, slow down and accelerate, and - ! Reverse into a parking space!
Mind you, that's how I always park, but I find it much more difficult to do with the standard.
So those were my two milestones today - driving all that way and not cutting out.

Is that a light?

Driving a standard: lesson six (or seven?)
I haven't driven the Pontiac for two weeks. First it was because we'd just painted part of the house, and by Sunday I was too tired to subject myself to the grueling mental stress of worrying about whether or not I was harming the car. The second week was because our nephews were over, and there was no way I was going to practice driving with three boys yelling in the back, commenting over this or that.
But yesterday, finally, I got back in the driver's seat.
It's a rather odd thing with me, that often if I take a break from something, I jump a level or two when I get back to it. It happened with my pastel portraits, for instance. After not painting pastels for about a year, I went back to it and found that they'd taken on a whole new dimension. Perhaps taking a step back allows me a different perspective. Perhaps I subconsciously continue to work on things.
Whatever the case, on this driving lesson I managed to drive out of the garage, through the streets to our 'practice' area, practice, and then drive back home with the car only cutting once. Mind you, this time I was overly cautious with the clutch and rode it too much...maybe next time I'll manage to let go of it once the car has started moving.