It was midwinter of 2014. I was fifteen and figuring out what I needed to do to drive. I'd started reading the driver's handbook so I could take the permit test when we finished changing my birth certificate to be correct (that's another story altogether). My parents decided that I could start learning the basics of driving in a nearby church parking lot when no one was there.

It snowed the night before the day we went driving. The lot had already been plowed, all of the snow pushed to the outer edges. It was going really well. I had a feel for how fast our car accelerated, how touchy the brakes were and was driving smoothly now. Until I had to choose to turn left or right.

Making decisions has always been a sort of a fatal flaw for me. I was driving down an isle of empty parking spaces and at the end was a mound of icy snow. Since it was my first time driving, I was a bit frazzled and was just trying to remember everything my dad had told me so far. I was trying to figure out which way to turn and before I knew it, it was time to turn. Luckily I braked right before I hit the iceberg and turned my dad's car into a Titanic. It was a close call though, and that was the end of my driving for that day.

I think it was a good experience though. It helped me realize just how frazzled and forgetful I can get and I have been able to work on being more organized in my thoughts since then. I would, however, not recommend icy weather for teaching someone how to drive.