Shut up and drive, drive, drive.

I love driving. Yes, that’s right. Shady and all other friends of mine who drive will laugh at that statement, but it’s true. I love driving. It is also one of the things I am most frightened of – out of my mind sometimes. But the high I get out of it is unbeatable. No matter how much I dither about not being able to handle it, no matter how much I hesitate to take the car out, the rare occasions that I do – YAY.

When Diaryface was here last month, she accused me of being a liar. We were scheduled to go to the outskirts of the city, which is a tough drive. So I made Shady drive my car. Diaryface wasn’t too happy about that. No sir, she was not. “Eh. You’re supposed to drive me around town. And now you’re getting HIM to drive? What zees? And you say you love driving. Pah!” she said and proceeded to shotgun the whole way as punishment. On the way back, however, I was forced to drive. ON THE HIGHWAY. Do you know how scary that is? I flipped out and just kept saying “Shit. NO.” over and over again, like a mad person. She, on the other hand, was most happy. She grabbed me by the hand and led me to the driver’s seat merrily. “Yes, yes. Come, come. You will drive me. The WHOLE way back. Ha!” said the friggin sadist.

BUT, I loved it. After dropping her off to her destination, I reached home. And as I was pulling into my parking space, I felt elated. It’s silly, but I had the most amazing adrenalin rush you can imagine and I felt like I could conquer everything, like nothing could stand in my way. I couldn’t stop smiling and telling everyone I happened to speak to in the course of the day that I drove 22kms at a stretch. The feeling was awesome, and something that I’ve felt before, but don’t feel often enough.

That’s changed though. I’m still scared as hell of driving, but it’s the good kind of scared. The kind of scared that drives (punny, no?) me to want to take the car out, to say no when people offer to park my car for me, to feel that same sense of elation I felt that day. After that day, I felt it last week, when I parked successfully. And again, two days ago, when I reached a crowded signal on a slope (on ground with more than a 4% gradient, yes. Ha!) and gravity did not get the best of me.

So yes, I really do love driving. And someday soon, I’m going to be completely unafraid of it. It’s a promise I made to myself last night, on the way home, when the bossy part of my mind told the submissive part of my mind to “SHUT UP AND DRIVE!” – cheesy? Haha. Yes, I agree. TRUE STORY.