The things that we humans fear are often very interesting. And with every fear there is a story.
There are two things in this world that scare me.
The first is swimming.
The second is driving.
Let me tell you about the swimming scenario. So basically, "normal" families teach their kids how to swim early on in life. And especially when I lived near a community pool that I could see out of my bedroom window, one would think that I would have learned how to swim. And here I am 18 years later not knowing how to swim.
It's not like I secluded myself from ever stepping in a pool. It's just that the opportunity to do so never happened. I hate the sun, I hate beaches, I hate bathing suits -- pretty much everything needed to swim. Although it wasn't the sun, beaches, and bathing suits that turned my dislike into a fear. When I was in middle school, the physical education department had mandatory swimming classes. I tried every way possible to get out of those. And when luck wasn't by my side, I went ahead and stepped into the pool for the first time. That day, we were learning how to float with a partner, so one person was standing in the water and would turn her partner over on her back. When my partner turned me over, I wasn't floating. Instead, I made a complete fool out of myself looking like I was drowning in four feet of water. Anyway, that was really scary and now I'm one of the 54 percent of Americans who can't swim well enough to save their lives.
The fear of driving however is a whole other story.
I suppose it is the American dream for teenagers to get their license the second they turn 16. Well, that wasn't the case for me. The summer before my senior year was the first time I went to the DMV to pick up the PA Drivers license manual, and just like every single high school assessment, I waited till the last minute to study for my permit test. In PA the permit test asks 18 multiple choice questions and you need to have 15 correct in order to pass. When I was on question number 18, I already had three incorrect answers. Luckily, I answered correctly. Talk about stress.
Now comes the part when I finally have my permit, but I need to get in the car. One Saturday morning, my dad takes me to our borough park parking lot to teach me how to drive. My dad had full faith that I would learn how to drive in a matter of a few days, but all that hope vanished. Everything went wrong. Never in my entire life have I ever heard my dad yell so much in a such a short time. I used to joke with him that that the first time I try driving, I'll get into an accident. After driving lesson #1, the joke wasn't as funny anymore.
It took almost two hours for me to figure out how to drive in a straight line. More than driving itself, the acceleration pedal scares me. I feel unsafe if I'm driving more that 15 mph. I'm horrible at signalling, turning, parking, driving in reverse, and looking through the mirrors. I'm horrible at driving.
On my personal list however, driving still ranks as number two. So while I'm never getting in the water, I know I have to get in the car. Having the freedom to go whenever wherever outweighs the fear of pressing the acceleration pedal.
Heads up. In the future, if you ever see a grown woman wearing a live jacket with a van full of kids driving 10 mph on the highway and has the "Student Driver" bumper sticker -- it's probably me.
