By: Darcie Thom

I did it! I did it!

I conquered the fear of driving in the city! I had a stare-down with the face of fear and my body trembled out through the tips of my fingers and toes until I turned the ignition off!

OK!!!! I may not have driven right into the city, we can say city limits…. How’s that?! But I still conquered that silly fear of major traffic and the city rush of craziness! That fear has been the anchor that hasn’t let me experience the freedom of driving in the city (or city limits) until this past weekend! And let me tell you, I was shakin’ in my booties!

Fear has this way of consuming people, making them choose different roads and holding them back from their ultimate goals. This ‘fear’ prevented me from driving independently, I drove with hesitation and doubt, something that I have never been proud of. Finally, after a few good kicks to the rear, I took the dreaded drivers test and passed the first round, with a good share of ’shakin’ in my booties’ syndrome.

Now, I do understand that there are no big bodies of water here that habitat shark and whales….. but that’s not to say that my biggest dream won’t come true! There will come a day, when the opportunity will be-a-knockin’ to jump in a body of water in a far-off paradise and pet those ‘friendly’ fish.

At a much younger age, my parents gave me the opportunity to experience one of my ‘future goals’ at a three-foot range. I had a killer whale drench me in water with his powerful tail splashes, water spraying out like a sprinkler from his water hole thing-a-madugger and his spit-squirts from his massive fang-filled mouth. The whole experience reminded me of bath-time with an enormous rubber whale but without the bath! My family laughed at me for looking like I had stood in a heavy pour of rain, that is, until they got their gifts from the seagulls!

Fear. This nonsense of a word, can put a halt to one’s dreams, especially those that give in to the fear. I know that for experienced drivers, driving in a city is a simple and easy task, but for another (without that experience), driving in a city is something almost foreign, dangerous and unrealistic. I do, however, have to acknowledge and understand those who possess that bad habit of road rage, it is very easy to lose ones concentrated attention when cars are cutting you off and have no degree of sincerity on the road!

Maybe my next unaccompanied trip to the Queen City will lead me into the actual city, now that would be a site to see!