A milestone: Driver's Education

By Leslie Parks - Wednesday, November 25, 2015

He eagerly reached for the car keys and my mind raced through all the years that flew by in an instant. I watched as he climbed into the driver's seat and started to adjust the seat, the steering wheel, the mirror and the visor. Mentally I needed to brace myself. I wasn't ready to relinquish control of my vehicle to an 80 pound 15 year old boy who was so confident in his ability behind the wheel. He put the van in reverse and backed into the road professing how he "got this". I was commanded to relax as we eased toward the entry way of our subdivision. He slowly pulled to a stop and looked both ways.  Two blocks away a car was approaching and he slowly pressed his foot on the gas pedal, swinging wide into the lane. I sucked in my breath, gripped the "oh crap handle" and scream out, "GO! GO! GO!" to urge him to speed up to keep from causing an accident.  For the next 20 minutes as he confidently drove us to our destination, I bit my lip, my knuckles turned white and my foot was alternatively pressing the imaginary brake and gas pedal in the passenger seat. I glanced down at the console and spied the official "Parent Supervised Student Driving Guide" and thought for sure it should have been titled "Parent Survival Guide to Student Driving".  He pulled in the parking lot and swung into the parking space with inches to spare from one of the cars in the other spot. I opened the door, relieved to have made it to our destination and quickly pocketed the keys only to give them up again for the way home.


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