My mom saved the money she earned at various jobs over the years for a car of her own so that we could become a two-car family. She looked at several and chose a VW Bug. I had learned to drive on a car with automatic transmission and had to learn how to shift on it. Because mom worked as a school crossing guard by the time she'd saved enough to buy the Beetle, she had summers off and as a college student I got to drive it to my summer job along the coast of southern RI. I was good about turning off the radio when I parked the car, but one morning I drove to work through fog and forgot to turn off the lights. When I finished work and tried to start the car, well, you know. I never forgot again but am grateful that cars now turn the lights off if the driver forgets.

After I graduated from college, got a job, and bought an automatic transmission car of my own I lost the ability to shift. When I married, my husband (I'm now divorced) retaught me and this time it "took." Except for the car I had when we married, all my others were standard transmissions until the one I bought in January. At my age, I've decided to simplify driving, and I don't even know if there are standard transmission Priuses.