Driving Lessons

I’m a father truly blessed, two beautiful healthy daughters, that have always garnered praise from teachers for their good nature and ability to learn. It doesn’t always come easy to them. Reality has always been clear to them and they deal with everyday events and their challenges with their eyes wide open. Naïve hasn’t been an option I ever supported, but “some times what you don’t know doesn’t hurt you” comes in handy even if it lowers the IQ.

Today is my oldest daughters’ first driving lesson,shes been driving for little under a month and it hasn’t been going easy getting lessons from a nervous mother the last week or so. So far in her travels it’s been one missed stop sign (mom said straight thru) and a misplaced foot on the accelerator instead of the brake backing out of their shed, when mom nervous I’m sure (for a good reason) forgot to remind herself to gently give instructions. To my daughters credit she hit the brake after realizing her mistake and avoided hitting a eight hundred pound rock directly behind the opening to the shed. I’d be lying if I didn’t say events like this are the icing of life with a little time and hindsight added. It isn’t easy though listening to your daughter telling of her troubles and her concern for learning to be a good driver and actually worrying about killing someone. She’s also worn out from homework, worrying about peer tutoring in front of a class of 20 “applied kids”(her first time), all her projects, and a cousin that likes to get her digs in who has been driving for five months.

These are some of my daughter’s “battles”. Her first lesson is at one this afternoon, she’s as nervous as hell. And I have to drive my youngest daughter to horse lessons at the same time. It sucks seeing reality being gagged upon by your kids once in awhile but that’s what reality is at times, just picture a sea cucumber turning itself inside out. I don’t want my sixteen year old to walk over to her lesson alone worrying, and the best I can do is get in the passenger seat of my fairly new truck (pray to God) and take her for a drive for two hours before her lesson, drop her off and try to let my love and her good sense still her sweet soul, then speed off to horse lessons with the youngest and worry myself. Hoping the driving lesson will be a baptism by fire and another accomplishment for my daughters belt as she has so many already, but never good enough for her. But way more than a father could ever hope for.

Life is one big driving lesson, check your mirrors.