Driving Ms. Carrie

Remember the old classic movie “Driving Ms. Daisy”?  I received a call by way of an ad I placed in a community newspaper.  I answered my phone and it was Ms. Carrie.  She introduced herself and said she needed some driving lessons.  She made it clear to me that all she needed to learn was how to parallel park.  I said, ok, that’s my expertise, so we scheduled to meet in two months time.  She was desperately willing to wait that long.  When we met, her eyes were wide open with nervousness when she told me she had been trying to pass the road test off-and-on for the past 6 years.  She could not “parallel park!”

To make a long story short, Ms. Carrie registered for 2 months driving lessons and we quickly found out during her practice that she needed a whole lot more than just Parallel Parking!  Ms. Carrie overcame her fear of driving and the road test by working one-on-one on service roads and streets that did not have much traffic.  We introduced her to early driving on a highway when there was less traffic.  On one occasion, Ms. Carrie even jumped out of the car and said, “Oh, No!!! I am not going on that highway!"  The driving instructor took over the wheel and that was the end of Ms. Carrie driving lesson for the day.  We were not getting anywhere with Ms. Carrie, so I needed a plan.

A strong will woman, Ms. Carrie needed help, so we sought help from above (a prayer team was called to pray for Ms. Carrie until that fear was broken).  Most of our new drivers have benefited from asking God to help, especially to pass the road test.  Ms. Carrie eventually mastered the driving techniques needed to pass her road test.  She even purchased her own car during the time she was taking driving lessons and in her own brand new 2009 Toyota Yaris she PASSED the road test without any mistakes!  On that day, we celebrated Ms. Carrie’s achievement with tears of joy! Till today, we still get emotional, when we think about driving Ms. Carrie.

Ms. Carrie has gone on to become one of our well adjusted drivers we have in the Bronx, New York.  Her high level of confidence of driving anywhere now makes her say jokingly, “when I see someone struggling to park, I feel like getting out of my car and doing it for them.”  Ms. Carrie now drives safely and cautiously on any street especially on any major highway.  Wow, is that incredible?

Do you know anyone like Ms. Carrie who needs help with parallel parking? We can help! Visit www.PaulinaAParker.com for more information.