Tonight, at my third driving lesson in my building’s parking lot and my first time behind the wheel as a two year seizure free woman I felt more in control and sure of myself. Did I mention I have been seizure free for two years?
Maybe I just feel safer because of how happy I am for reaching my goal of two years because I knew my doctor was ok with this before and according to him, there is no law for how long you have to be seizure free to drive in Puerto Rico. This was as free as I can be driving at 10 mph, I felt like I had to make more decisions as to where I wanted to drive inside the gated parking lot.
I made the decision that I wanted to park the car, in a spot were there where no other cars I could accidentally hit.
I also drove the car close to the front gate, where there were more cars and I was risking that another car would come in or leave the parking. In front of the gate I successfully made a u turn, which I was afraid to do.
The most important lesson tonight happened when another car drove in the opposite direction next to me. I obviously got nervous, not only was the car next to me but it was moving. As nervous as I was, I was able to stay calm and keep driving without any problems. I was able to park between the lines but without any cars near me; I didn’t dare to park it in our parking spot because there was a nice car next to it.
The day will come when I can park next to another car, but not yet; we’re still taking this one step at a time. First I have to master parking, then you bring in the other cars, but today’s lesson was the longest yet, a full half hour. I think I am more tired now than I was this morning after walking my dogs, but this is because I was more nervous now. Learning how to walk dogs is a lot easier than learning how to drive again or learning how to drive, period.
Unstoppable María 