Learning To Drive

It's a right of passage for every young person, one that I was dreaming of and counting down the years to for years before I was even 16. I remember my first drive, with the Omni and it's stick shift and lurching through every stop sign trying to figure out the clutch and shifting, my Mom sitting next to me, giving instruction and encouragement.

In all my learning, I only remember her being upset that I was hugging the edge of the road and the ditch that ran next to it...which if you ask her today, I'm sure she'll tell you that still makes her nervous when I drive.

I've been looking forward to my first born learning to drive. I have! I imagined I'd be a cool cucumber, calmly giving tips and never yelling 'stop, stop, stop!'

And suddenly it's now, and my son is learning to drive and I'm not always as calm as I thought I'd be. My biggest issue isn't him, it's the other idiots driving around us. Don't they know my heart is driving? They need to exercise extreme caution!

I find that I have to battle some desire to jump out of the car and pound on windows, screaming things like "what's wrong with you?" and "It wasn't your turn at that four way stop!"

In spite of that, my son is driving us everywhere, and he's doing great. I'm very proud of him and even if at times I want to cry with disbelief that he is actually old enough to sit behind the wheel, to put his arm on the back of my seat as he backs out of the driveway, to adjust the mirrors to his proportions, well, that's just the price of motherhood, isn't it?

One I'll gladly pay.