Never Too Late to Learn to Drive

Adam Gopnik, staff writer for The New Yorker, discusses learning to drive on Manhattan's streets as an adult. He and his son got their learner's permits together and Gopnik took driving lessons: 

Panic enveloped me. Taxis were honking furiously—furious, I dimly realized, at me! “Let’s give him the hand,” Arturo said, showing me a gentle, palm-out wave. “Just give him the hand: ‘Yes, thank you for sharing.’ ” He was addressing the car alongside us as its driver yelled soundlessly. He smiled. We moved forward up the avenue. Driving was like a nightmare, or, rather, like a dream I had had many times at the age of six or seven, of being behind the wheel of my father’s car and moving forward, floating forward. I broke out in a sweat—up Madison into the South Bronx, incredibly doing this thing.