Stick Shift and Gyros

I have some good news, and I have some bad news.  The good news: Jenai is coming home next week!  When she leaves, she's going to take the Element with her.  We will now have a car out in Provo.  (I would've used exclamation points for the last two sentences, but my writing professor says they are obnoxious and overused). The bad news: the car is a stick shift. 

I drove our Dodge Dakota in high school.  I made that truck look good.  I was originally supposed to learn to drive manual and use the Element, but since we had the truck I drove that instead and never learned to drive stick very well. 

Well, now I have to learn. 

Last Sunday I practiced driving in the parking lot of the middle school and around the neighborhood.  I didn't stall out once.  I was proud.  I was getting the hang of it, so today I drove the Element to work.  (Mind you, work is only a mile from home).  Everything went well.  I parked and started my shift at Subway.  Less than five minutes later I heard some people in the C-store asking whose Element was in the parking lot.  I said it was mine.  They said it was rolling backwards. 

Great. 

I had used the parking break, but not enough.  That's why it took so long for the car to inch backwards.  By the time I found out it had creeped at least 10 feet out.  That was embarrassing. 

But I wasn't deterred.  I was still confident, so I drove the stick out on the busier streets of Medina to get dinner.  I only stalled out twice on the way there and once on the way home.  I stalled out three times in the parking lot...

Though I faced hills, stop signs, and embarrassment, we got our delicious gyro sandwiches and made it home safely. 

Lily looking lovingly at her gyro.

I think I'll stay home for the rest of the night.  I'm too scared to drive anywhere else.