There are some defining moments in everyone's life when you know that things are never going to be the same again. The end of high school, your first love, marriage, children, deaths of family and friends.. . .
And your oldest teenager (your first baby) getting her driver's license and backing out of the driveway without you for the first time.
This momentous occasion happened to me just two short weeks ago. . . right in the same time frame as the depressing diagnosis about my knee pain AND the birthday that threw me closer to 50 than 40. My mortality has hit me square in the face....
I'm going to go eat some chocolate and I'll get back with you in just a second.
Anyway, I have to confess that I have not been near as worried or upset about my daughter driving as I ought to be. This is primarily because almost every single weekday since August 21, I have spent at least 2 1/2 hours in my car - every. stinking. day. It's a long boring story but our children are not all in the same schools, they have a variety of extracurriculars, youth group, and the annoying "I have a __________ due tomorrow" phenomenon that occurs in American households on a weekly basis.
Tip for you parents of younger kids? STOCK UP on posterboard and cake mixes/frosting the next time you see a sale and store it in your house anywhere you can. I promise, you will thank me at 9pm some night!! And if you don't have eggs? You can substitute 1.5 cups of carbonated beverage for the eggs and oil and still come out with a decent cupcake. Yeah . . .been there, done that.
My faith in God and the fact that my daughter is an honor student, responsible, and conscientious has a lot to do with my alarming lack of worry. She really has become a good little driver. But a lot of it is also due to the fact that I FINALLY HAVE MY LIFE BACK. (Well, a little bit). When she pulled out of the driveway to pick up the siblings, the sense of freedom I felt from the prison I call a car was absolutely exhilarating.
Being that I am not a totally bad mom, that brings me to RAOK # 28 - Rock 'n' Roll. My kids are typical teenagers in the fact that they love to listen to music. They actually have pretty broad tastes ranging from Christian, pop, and country. The one thing I noticed about my daughter is that she will change the station when she doesn't like what is on. What teenager doesn't do this? My concern, however, is that moment of looking down. As a new driver, I don't want her doing it! So, I went through iTunes and created a playlist for the teens that I knew they would love and I burned a CD for them. This keeps them happy with music, and it keeps Mama happy knowing that she won't be running off the road trying to change the radio station. The kids were very excited about their CD!
It's also a little RAOK for all you locals on the road! :)
P.S. I can't end the "Rock 'n' Roll" post without putting a picture of me and Jon Bon Jovi on here. Front row seats last year for my birthday. AMAZING!!
Yes, I took this with my camera!
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