Today's post: guest contributors!

Today's adventures are best told by guest contributor Amy Mann. First day at school. First school dance. First kiss. There are certain experiences that most people have, share and recall in vivid details. Today while in Ireland, Beth had one of those experiences. We have spent the week driving around Ireland and when I say we, I mean Dearsley and me. This has been because of one reason: Beth did not know how to drive stick. So today we were taking pictures on this absolutely picturesque road, in fact it has been featured on the HBO series, Game of Thrones. It was a slow country road, straight and relatively long and flat with gorgeously arching trees. After we took some pictures we decided to teach Beth how to drive stick. Now this is not as easy as it would be if we were just in the US. Since they drive on the left side of the road in Ireland, the stick shift is also on the left. So not only did she have to learn how to work the clutch, she also had to immediately get used to driving on the left hand side. We got in the car, I explained the basic concept and Beth took off flawlessly! I was shocked. She slowly shifted up through the gears and didn't even stall as we came to our first intersection. I was floored! But as we came to our next intersection, Beth became a traditional first time stick driver. We stalled. We jerked. We stalled again. A few people watched and laughed. I laughed and remembering my own experience, felt MUCH better. We finally turned around and headed back to the group. As we approached a very, tiny, small incline, we saw the rest of the gang. We were a quarter of a mile away and Beth started screaming "get out of the road, get out of the road"! Since we weren't even close to them and they weren't even close to the road, I started laughing and could tell something special was about to happen. We got up to the stop sign, the windows down, the pressure was on for Beth to start on a hill, surrounded by people watching. The coast was clear, we told Beth to go. We waited. We yelled go. We laughed. We did not go. Finally Beth worked up the courage to start. She put the clutch in, slooooowly pressed the gas. We drifted back about 5 feet. Finally Beth pressed the gas, we screeched, made a skid mark and we were off! It was absolutely hilarious, partly because Beth's face was so precious, she was sweating and so nervous, but mostly because for everyone who has ever learned to drive stick, we had the exact situation. All of us were laughing so hard we were crying. There is even video, on her Facebook page! You will cry as you watch the car drift down, out of frame, then lurches she takes off. But for all our laughing and Beth telling us we were no longer her friend, she had to go back and take a picture of her skid marks, so I know she was proud. And really, as her manual transmission instructor, I was pretty proud of her too. Amy Mann