50 Minutes of Terror

Today on our way to my Aunt's house my mother decided it was time for me to practice driving since I've had my permit for almost a month. On the highway. *gulp* So my first time to really drive was today. She pulls off the side of the highway (thankfully its out in the middle of almost nowhere, so not too many cars) (but more 18-wheelers!) My heart is beating fast. My hands are getting sweaty. My breath quickens.... and I'm not even in the drivers seat yet. Pathetic.
I climb over into the drivers and as I buckle up and put my foot on the brake she explains how to get back on the road without killing myself. I manage to get onto the highway. I set cruise control (God bless the person who came up with that!) on 60 mph instead of 70 mph. I have never driven this fast before!
So I have a bad habit of being dramatic when scared (hard to believe, right?!) and a BIG 18-wheeler (I mean, they're all big, but they seem SO much bigger when you are actually the one behind the wheel!) starts getting closer to me and I squeal as it passes me, and I started hyperventilating. Mom reminded me to stay calm, keep in my lane, and to take deep slow breaths.
Eventually, more cars come up around me, everyone passes by me, and I wondered, how long have I been driving?? I guessed around 20 minutes so far, each second longer than the last, each minute a miracle we're still alive. I ask mom how long it has been. She checks her watch, and replies that it has been...get ready for this.... ten WHOLE minutes. My jaw nearly dropped. TEN, only ten?? It felt like an hour. Then my dear little sister pipes up in the back saying what I was thinking. ONLY TEN MINUTES?! FEELS LIKE FOREVER! precious.


Side note: One of the first times I drove (I mean not on the highway, but on a country road) I was driving down this dirt road and my sister was present at the time. A car WAY down the road appeared and I yelled, "A CAR!!" freaking out, thinking for sure I was going to be killed. She hasn't let me live that down.

OK, back to my terrifying time.
So I'm feeling pretty confident about going 60mph. That is, until I see a van pass me, with a scooter on the back! A disabled person is going faster than me! Definitely one of my low moments. That and when I ran over a beautiful, big butterfly that innocently strayed into the path of a novice driver. :'(
The whole time I'm driving I keep my arms perfectly straight, determined not to relax lest it kill us, so my arms start to cramp. I eventually feel a little more at ease after 30 minutes. Yet I was still nervous that someone would get ticked off at my slow going and flip me off or blare their horn (I swear, if that happened I would pass out or have a heart failure) Thankfully that never happened. Whew!
I'm driving and I see a sign for Sonic, where Maddy really REALLY wanted to get a hot fudge shake. Unfortunately the sign said EXIT NOW. I nearly missed it and didn't put on my brakes fast enough for my mother. Thus I kind of cut the corner fast. Plus, there's someone behind me, RIGHT behind me (as if I'm going too slow or something! psh! psh!...ahem...) And the stop sign is right below the exit, so I nearly don't brake enough again. Mom tells me just to park the car so we can switch seats. I climb over into the passenger seat and my arms just plopped into my lap like Jello. No joke. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow morning, my arms are going to be soooooo sore from keeping them so tense today. After my mom begins driving, I attempt to text my friend with my noddle-like hands, which didn't work so well. As i lift up my Charles Dickens book to read, my arms flop around. So I just decide to sit still, my limp, tingly arms slowly reviving.
I cannot believe we survived.