I’ve been driving for almost 20 years. Wow, I feel old just writing that, but shockingly, it’s true.

Anyway, when I was growing up, my parents always owned standard transmission vehicles, so when it came time for me to learn how to drive, that’s what I learned on.

At the time, I was pretty annoyed about that, as it was much harder for me learn driving than for any of my friends and their “normal”, automatic-transmission vehicle families.

Once I got my license, I didn’t think much about it again, and after a while I became so used to it that when I began purchasing my own vehicles, I just automatically asked for a standard transmission.

Last month, I finally got the car I’d had my eye on for the better part of this decade – a Toyota Rav 4. Imagine my shock and apprehension when I was told they only come with automatic transmissions! But the more I thought about it, and the more I drove my husband’s pickup truck, which was also an automatic, the more I came to recognize the ease and practicality of such a set up.

A road trip to Montreal this spring was the tipping point. It was awfully painful navigating through rush hour traffic in Montreal and Toronto on a standard transmission, making me realize that maybe it really was time to give in and move on.

So I moved down the path towards my shiny new Rav 4. Along with the automatic transmission came some other features I was getting for the first time like power windows (yes, I’d had manual up to then!) and cruise control. I love the power windows and have come to wonder how I could ever drive anything but an automatic.

However, the cruise control remains uncharted territory to date. Letting the car take over and drive itself is one aspect of the whole driving process that I’m not yet willing to relinquish. It might be worth checking in with me in another 10 years or so on that one…