Welcome to The Girl Next Door. I'm Kelsey. And I'm Erica. In every episode, we bring our different

perspectives to candid conversations that feel like chatting with good friends. We started this show

years ago when we were next door neighbors and still haven't run out of things to talk and laugh about yet.

Today, we're talking about driving.

For many of us, driving is such an everyday and necessary part of our lives that it blends into the background.

But as we found with similar topics like bathing, laundry, and cleaning the bathroom,

when you start talking about your personal experience, preferences,

and quirks, it can get surprisingly interesting. So let's go back to the beginning of our driving

experiences. Tell me about learning how to drive. Okay, I have very fun memories of learning how to

drive, actually. So I was the oldest. My dad is a really good driving teacher. He really is. He kind of prides himself. He's been taking the grandkids now to learn. And we had actually inherited, my great grandpa had passed away a couple years before that and had this like mercury sable, like, you know, old man car that had only been driven to the grocery store

basically that was in great shape and he gifted that to my dad in his will because he knew you know

he'd have young drivers coming up and so that was kind of special like that became like the kid

car and the first time I went driving he took me to the church parking lot and just like, you know, get the basics of maneuvering and breaking and all that. And it didn't feel like we were there that long, but he must have felt like, okay. And then he was like, all right, drive us home. And I was like, oh, dad, I can't. And he's like, yes, you can. You got this. He just was really good at like instilling confidence right away and and teaching us that like you have to be kind of confident as a driver. If you're too hesitant, that can cause just as many problems as being too aggressive, you know? And that's the only way to learn is just you got to do it. And he's like, I got, if I didn't think you could do it, I wouldn't have you doing it. And like if you're really uncomfortable, you can pull over and I'll drive. But like, you got this. Yeah.

And. He's like, I got, if I didn't think you could do it, I wouldn't have you doing it. And like, if you're really uncomfortable, you can pull over and I'll drive. But like, you got this. Yeah. And so that was just, it's just a memory that stands out. And then a couple years after I got my license when I was 18, we really just needed another family car. Like, because my brother was starting to learn to drive. We had sports and different things going on. So

they surprised me with like a very used Honda accord that was in great shape and it was a stick shift.

And I didn't know how to drive stick shift yet, but he thought it was good for me to learn. And he's like,

as soon as you can prove to me that you can handle that on a hill with snow and ice,

you can take it out. Wow. And so I had to learn how to drive stick. And Jeremiah actually helped me learn because his car was stick at the time too. And I was getting kind of frustrated. And so I had a couple of lessons with him like in his alley. I remember practicing. and then there's this big hill that I remember my dad taking me to and being like, okay, if you can show me that you can like prevent yourself from

rolling backwards on like the icy hill at a stoplight, you can you can drive it as much as you

want. And so it was like motivating and I was proud that I knew how to drive stick. Yeah. Yeah.

So there's just really

good memories of it oh that's so great okay actually as you were talking I remembered one other

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