SHEsaysWITHaSMILE.blogspot.com

you REALLY did a great job! says (me!) writeousmom

i had the great privilege recently of taking my son for a driving lesson in the writeousmom~mobile.

now, let me say for the record..  it is an entirely different experience giving a lesson to my son than it was my daughter a couple years ago..

the lesson itself was not so different; the actual experience..

-more, the internal experience is different.  -because my son has spent so many hours playing race car video games..  and because he talks about cars and speeding more often..   -because of his comments when im driving and he's in the front

"Oh I'd just go write now..  gas it".   and he is just joking of course, because if I did just go.. Lives would be lost..  so I joke back..

and tell him I must postpone him getting his license at least 6 months for every terrible driving comment he makes..

and I think at last tally..   he is really not supposed to get his license until he's like.. 43.

but all of that has been just for fun..  

now he is 15 1/2 and its time to get serious...    not simulated video game driving where a totaled car gets repaired instantaneously; or a life that gets wiped out, is easily replaced..

this is the real deal.   

and I'm giving his lesson same place as my daughter..  

church parking lot.

-this allows me to talk directly to Jesus during the lesson..

pray over and through the " brake! brake! brake!" part of the experience and express my gratitude for the privilege, and up my faith.. my hope... my prayers.. my trust..

because all parents with driving age young adult children know..

once they have their license.. and they start driving independently..

you, as the parent

have no control over what happens on the road.   after you teach and talk about safety.. and caution and warn, and build confidence and grow their instincts, and establish what a responsibility it is..

then, at some point..   you let them go. 

sign of cross, sign of cross, sign of cross..

and it is easy..  a great temptation... to be consumed by worry..

but what I have learned to do instead

is to look everywhere I go, day in and day out..   and for every adult I see, I say to myself..

she survived; he survived..  look at all these people who learned how to drive!

and so having successfully helped launch my daughter out into the driving world..  I was a tad more prepared

***

and you REALLY did great! son, on your first lesson..  it will stand out to me as a beautiful and entertaining memory, that at the end of the lesson..  the way you looked at me and said,

"K.. is there anything you would tell me I did wrong, or could do better, if you weren't being nice?"

and the truth is..   No. You REALLY did great.   It was your FIRST lesson..   not your third.  And you should not compare yourself to someone who has been driving ten years.  It is a process.. 

you even pulled in a parking spot backwards this first lesson.  -very impressive..

but I knew you wanted to hear something..   so, I made it up:

how maybe you could be easier on the brake.  -shoot for a smoother stop...

but  the truth is..      no one gets that perfect the first time.  that would freak me out if you did everything smooth and perfect the first time

and every car will be different..   you will adjust accordingly each time..

so, sorry I lied to you, k.     You REALLY did great! I'm not just being nice. I'm being real.

Love you!  Xoxo

posted by SHE @ 9:35 AM