As Libby's life with me draws to a close...

I've taken the time to reflect on the good times that I've had with my car.
Libby was a good car while our time together lasted...
Libby and I have traveled to Washington (state) for Anah's wedding (GASP!!!!) and a visit with the nieces and nephew, with Scottie to Sacramento, CA for Thanksgiving with Dad, Las Vegas for wild fun with Bepa, Myra and Amy and for a friend's wedding, and Laramie, Wyoming 3 times for a 5K. We've had some really good times.
I think one of the best times, and perhaps most enlightening, was when Bepa learned to drive a stick in my car.
I've decided to put a post about the things that I learned from teaching Bepa how to drive a manual transmission.

1-"If ye are prepared ye shall not fear." (D&C 38:30) With proper study, things aren't as difficult to go thru. Bepa learned the principle, or theory, behind driving a stick shift and put it into practice and did well, all along trusting the things she'd learned.
2-This is related to the first lesson learned. Bepa didn't kill the car for a long time after getting behind the wheel. She was prepared and was able to face even the most difficult situations, like hills.
3-Sometimes we think everything's correct but we keep sliding back. We should reassess to see if something's wrong. Bepa was on a hill and every time she'd try to accelerate to go forward the car would slide backwards and she'd slam on the brakes. After three or four tries she stopped and reassessed, realizing that she needed to put the car into first gear to go forward. She thought that she'd done it already, but obviously hadn't. Hence the reassessment saved my tire treads in the end.
4-At times we perceive things as difficult, like I-15, even though people reassure us that it will be easy. Sometimes we make things more difficult than they are just because of our nerves or fear. I-15 is easy because you don't have to shift very much, it's mostly smooth sailing, just like being on the strait and narrow. Bepa realized this after about a minute of agony of driving on the freeway. It was only when she relaxed that she realized this was the easiest part of her driving that afternoon.
5-Sometime's we're afraid to fail in front of others, but really, no one's paying attention. Tom and I decided to take Bepa to a spot in south Provo that has good hills, straight roads and one circular road in a goofy neighborhood spot. It was perfect, save for one thing: it was her home stake. But she bit the bullet and drove there anyway. Then she realized that it didn't matter even if people saw the stake president's daughter screeching some tires. In fact it didn't even matter that Tom and I were in the car with her because we were only there to help.
6-Support from others is important. Tom and I were in the car with her to help and encourage her. But she was the one driving, we only answered questions and gave hints when she needed them. Later we called her parents who went out and stood on their front porch and watched Bepa drive by, handling the stick shift just fine. They waved as we drove by, very impressed that she was already capable of handling Libby so well.
7-But even with all of the preparation and explaining that Tom and I gave Bepa, eventually she just had to go and do, getting behind the wheel with 3 pedals under her feet and a stick at her right. It's like the armor of God in D&C 27 and Ephesians 6. What good is all of this knowledge and protection against the Adversary going to do for us if we don't try and go forward with our lives? Damnation is a stoppage of progression. Are we stopping ourselves because of fear even if we're prepared to go forward?
8-There are correct moments to change gears, but sometimes we want to change @ different times, when we feel it's right. But sometimes this means that the car has to work harder. Bepa got so good at changing gears that we'd be in 3rd at 20mph and 4th by 30mph. This meant that poor Libby was trying to get going at a really low RPM and wasn't going to well. Other times Bepa would forget to shift and we'd be in 2nd gear at 35mph or 3rd at 45mph, way too many RPMs for my car. She readjusted and shifted gears more appropriately. Libby was much happier with the situation as was I.
9-Life is fun. Learning new things can be daunting, but it's so much easier to handle while having fun.
10-Laugh. A lot. Laugh while you're having fun. Especially, look for reasons to laugh while you're having a hard time.
11-Be excited. Bepa revved the engine like you can't believe when she got behind the wheel.

Well, my friends, there you go. Teaching Bepa to drive a stick shift was a lot of fun and very educational to boot.

As a side note, Anah's wedding cake went thru a transformation the day of. She had wanted some things, but really they were terrible once produced. But in the end, Gretchen sorta changed things on the fly and the cake turned out very beautiful. Anah and Terry were obviously very happy with it. Not too sure about Kathy, however.

Oh, we lost our softball game tonight, meaning we're out of the tournament. But we had a lot of fun playing. I didn't get hurt, but I'm thinking about feigning an injury just to make G&K mad at me. They tell me now before every game, "Now, our dear Vanessa, you just play safe and don't go get yourself hurt. No diving. No sliding. No getting hurt. Just safe."