Reminds me of my dear old Dad, I have pretty much driven automatics all my driving life and Dad used to rib something rotten, stating all the usual reasons why not, control, reliability fuel consumption etc etc. In his early seventies he started suffering from stiff shoulders and general aches and pains and I tried to encourage him to try automatic driving, would he... eventually I convinced him to try our car, after much muttering he did and it was his light bulb moment, following day we started the quest to find him something he liked, a nice rover 216 came up and he snapped it up. From that day on he would always say”why didn’t I do this sooner” it kept him and mum independent and on the road, safely until 3 months before he passed at the ripe old age of 98, (I used to go out with him every couple of months to see if he was safe, slow but perfectly ok)
Enjoy many years of safe and happy motoring, I am sure you won’t regret it.