It was surprisingly easy, I had the hang of it in a few minutes. I learned in an old VW Beetle with some of my favorite people in the world. I think I reached 40 mph in a church parking lot. Third gear + tight turns was when I started scaring my friends.
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Why is your specific memory special? How often have you used the skill since? Have you stayed in touch with the person who taught you?
On the Christmas morning of my 17th year, my parents gave me a gift to open. I unwrapped the small box and found a set of keys. We were temporarily living in a condo while my parents finalized the purchase of a home. My dad said to go in the condos parking lot and find my car. I first went up to sports cars; Mustangs, Corvettes etc. -no luck. Then I tried SUV's and trucks. -again, no luck. I think I tried every car until I reached the last one, it was an old, rusty, hatched back, white Chevy Nova. It was a stick shift and it was mine. I loved it.
I hadn't driven a stick before but my dad gave me a quick lesson and I pretended I knew exactly what I was doing. Later that day I drove the family to my grandparents house in my new ride. We got to the intersection of Main St and Grand River (busiest in our small town) and I stalled it. Right in the center of the intersection I sat stalled. I couldn't get her going again for what seemed like forever. It was Embarassing but eventually she started up and moved forward.
I loved that car. Wrote a song about it on my first album titled "Rusty Nova." -good times, thanks for the memory.