I had a late start to getting my learner’s driving permit. On my sixteenth birthday, I was bedridden and had a really high fever. I couldn’t hold down anything that I had been eating. So, it was pretty safe to say that I wasn’t feeling the greatest. It took me a long time to finally get my permit. But waiting for it a little longer than most people do probably helped my emotions out because when I finally did get it, I felt more prepared. It was a really fun and anticipated achievement, the next step toward adulthood. Driving for the first time going more than fifty miles per hour was very scary. Before that day, I had never driven a vehicle faster than twenty or twenty-five miles per hour. On top of that, I had never driven with other people and cars on the road.

That day was all so nerve-racking. I spent the night at my grandmother’s and had not gotten much sleep. Before then, I had taken a few practice tests online and passed all of them. I didn’t feel like I would fail the test, but I was simply just nervous. People told me many times not to worry because the test was easy. But that was their test. Every test is different. Not every question is the same or people would be able to get answers from other people.

When I got up in the morning, I wasn’t really that hungry. No one was home, so I was there alone being nervous. My grandmother was working and my grandfather had a doctor’s appointment. It was around noon when my mom came to pick me up to leave for the DMV. The first thing she said to me was, “Aren’t you going to fix your hair?” I told her I already did. I didn’t care, though.

After getting to the DMV, I had to fill out a bunch of forms. The lady at the counter seemed very strict. She honestly seemed like she hated her job and everyone else on the planet to go with it. I had always heard things like that about the DMV, but I had never been there before. She told me the instructions in a tone that suggested this was the millionth time she had uttered these words.

The test itself took about ten minutes. I read every question twice to make 100 percent sure I understood all of it. When I clicked on “finish,” the screen loaded for what seemed to be the longest thirty seconds of my life. Once it finished, the screen turned white and a text popped up and said “Congratulations, You Passed.” Right at that moment, I knew I had the most idiotic looking smile on my face, but I was very excited. I turned over to my mom and just gave her a thumbs up and that was all she needed to know that I passed. I was pretty nervous to take my picture because I wasn’t sure if they would let me change it if I asked them to. After I took my picture, which I was pretty okay with when I saw it, we walked back out to the parking lot. It took a moment to set in that I was going to sit in the driver’s seat instead. My mom, of course, felt the need to take so many pictures.

Driving felt so weird. It was very difficult at first, but after a minute or two, I got the hang of the feeling of how the car drove. I had already practiced how to not stomp on the break, so I wasn’t worried in that regard. The thing I was most worried about was crashing the car. I decided to take the back roads home to avoid the most traffic. This was actually a bad decision in the long run. But it all made for a good learning experience. As I was driving down the road, my mom was giving me little tips about driving, like what not to do and little things to try to remember. As I was driving down the road, a semi caught up to me and started tailing me. This was the first day I had ever driven fast, so I was going a little slower than the posted speed limit. The speed limit was fifty-five, but I was doing fifty. The driver in the semi wanted to go about 60, but I was obviously not letting him. I remembered a piece of advice that my grandpa gave me the day before. He told me not to worry about the people behind me if they get mad and to just go the speed that I’m comfortable with. But the man who was driving the semi even beeped at me, which really irritated me. Finally, I decided to pull over and let him pass.

It was my first interaction with road rage because I was very angry at the guy who was driving. Overall, though, I feel like I did a good job handling the situation. I was proud of myself, to be honest. I made it home without a scratch. To add to that, my first experience of driving was a good one because I was very eager to drive the next day. Driving is fun, in my opinion, and I actually love doing it. It gives a person a chance to be free and go wherever they want. Everyone is so used to the slow pace of walking, it gets boring after a while. Driving is my chance to go faster.