Driving Lesson

I remember taking Drivers Education in high school. Our range was on school property surrounded by a gate. The classroom was outside in one of those classroom trailers. My teacher was ex-military, so he was a very dot your i's cross your t's person. After learning what we should know he would call your name and tell you which car you would be driving, and what he wanted you to do on the range. Whether it was just drive the range or drive and parallel park, you knew what you where doing. If you didn't follow his direction you where told to park and off the course you came for the day.

Behind that wheel I was nervous. I actually had to steer this big hunk of metal. I got behind that wheel and slowly began to navigate around that course. After a couple of weeks I was a little more confident. My favorite part about driving was the parallel parking. I know it's weird, but I did.

The day to hit the city street I was nervous wreck. There was three of us in the car along with the teacher. My friend was asked to drive first as me and another girl sat in the back seat. He drove about two miles from the school and then had him pull over and then called me into the driver's seat. I adjusted my mirrors, fixed my seat, took a deep breathe as I checked traffic and then proceeded to pull away from the curb into traffic. "I did it!" I'm thinking still nervous. I'm driving waiting for him to give me my next directive. The street has three lanes and I'm in the middle. My teacher then says, "Get in the left lane and do a loop around to go back the other way." I checked my left side mirror and main mirror, everything was clear. I put on my left blinker to move over and out of no where a car honks at me as they go speeding pass us. My ex-military teacher is upset that he says to me, "Pull over and get in the back." I pull over and the third student gets in the drivers seat and takes us back to school. I was so distraught and upset with myself wondering where that car came from. My side was clear to get over. Well, I failed getting my drivers license. It would be seven years after graduating from high school that I would try again. I passed. I felt redeemed when the lady from Secretary of State told me I passed.

Years go pass. I have a 21 year old daughter now who has decided that she is ready to get her drivers license. In my state high school no longer teaches drivers education. So, who has to teach them? Either you or you pay a driving school to do it and they are expensive now compared to when I went to one. After she tells me she's ready to drive she adds in, "and I want you to teach me." Aw, boy. Panic rises. I don't know why because I trust her. Everything in my body says she's going to do fine. Breathe.

Four weeks later I take her to the Secretary of State to take her written test. I wait in the car. When she came out the door her aura beamed. She tried not to smile as her body tried not to skip in happiness as she came back to the car. I'm watching her saying to myself, "she passed", as I try not to bust out laughing.

The next day was our first lesson. I taught her about checking her mirrors to make sure she could see. Which was the brake and which was the accelerator. To press the brake as shifted from park to drive. As she slowly pulled out the drive way and hit the street I had to clench my invisible pearls as we drove down our neighborhood street to the main street. I had to teach her about staying in her lane. That first day she did pretty good. The next day I had her drive from the house to Downtown. I would tell her where to turn. When to put on her signal to move into a left or right lane. After getting Downtown. She pulled over and told me she was done for the day.

On day three as I had her driving around there was a driver behind us who I noticed kept riding close to the car. It was a one lane. As we got to a stop light he moved over into the next lane to make a left onto another main street. Before he did he shouts out his window, "drive faster!" I saw the spirit in my daughters face start to fade a little. I told her to drive at the pace she felt comfortable. She was doing good. That night went on Amazon and I bought a student driver magnet to put on the car, but until then I wrote on paper in big letters, STUDENT DRIVER and slapped it in my back window.

It has now been a month since she's been behind the wheel. In the process of being on the passengers side I had a epitome that hit me that it's okay to let go and let others do things. That I take on too much when I don't need to. That whatever this child decides to do she is going to be alright. I also realized while she's been driving that you have people who respect the space of a student driver and then you have those so wrapped up in their world they don't recognize the STUDENT DRIVER sign on the back of the car, and expect her to drive as if she has been driving for more than 4 years. She even asked me more than once while driving, "how these people get a drivers license?"

This is the next big step in her life, and I told her when she graduated high school to give me time to let her go. It's a process. I'll always be here for you. It's more a process for me then for you.

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