Meghan: Describe your first car and learning to drive.

When I turned 16 you were allowed to get your permit then the next day go and get your license if you wanted. However because my birthday falls at the beginning of winter, my mom & dad decided to let me get my permit, but wait until spring 1998 to get my license. My mom wanted me to have practice and my dad wanted to teach me how to handle winter weather. I got my permit on my 2nd try. Most of my practice was driving with my dad in the car, not my mom, she would always use her pretend brakes. I learned to drive with their Honda accord. Dad and I would spend many nights driving into town and practicing parallel parking. I was an expert by the time he finished teaching me. I remember going out in the snow to learn to drive, which to this day is not my cup of tea. I'll do it if I have to but would rather wait it out till the roads are clear.

I got my license on my first try in the spring of 98". I remember the first time my best friend Renee and I got in the car together alone we were freaking out! We thought we were so cool. I can clearly remember driving away from my parents house in her car down Eckman road blaring our music and laughing our heads off. Little did we know of the responsibility we just took on and the responsibility that would come from that day on.

My first car was a maroon Jetta, I think it was around a 89' or 90'. It looked similar to the picture above. I really wanted a manual car to learn how to drive stick, so that's what I got even though I had no idea how to drive it. We got my Jetta in the fall of 99', my senor year of high school. I started dating Dwayne in November and he actually helped teach me to drive stick shift. My dad knew how too, but it had been years since he had drove it, so he was a little rusty. We would go over to Willow Street CTC and practice stop and go on the hill there. My grandma bought my car so I wouldn' t have to pay interest but I did pay her back every penny over the next 2 years. Mom and Dad were gracious enough to pay for my insurance, but I paid for the gas to fill my car, I can remember when gas was only 89cents a gallon! In the little over 10 years since I got my first car gas has gone up over $2 -$3 a gallon!