Baby, You Can Drive My Car

No. Not a post about the greatest band that ever lived. You can take this title literally. My baby, my youngest child, my sixteen year old Emma, is driving my car. That’s right, she passed her learner’s permit test on Tuesday and is now driving my car.  It’s still hard to believe!

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Charles Dickens sure got that right and he wasn’t even talking about his kid learning to drive.  It is the best of times because it is time for her to drive. She is responsible. She will be a good driver. It is the worst of times because she is growing up way too fast.

About an hour after getting her permit she took over the wheel at Parkland High School. She drove all around the campus in the rain. She really did well. We took one drive on a country road. She did well there too.  It’s all good and next May she will get her license and be out there on her own.  That’s when the real worry will start!

I thought about how the Lehigh Valley has changed since I learned to drive in 1968. There were not as many people. There were not as many cars. There were not as many highways. There was less, or maybe even non-existent, road rage. People were kinder back then.  I learned to drive mostly outside of Walnutport on a, mostly void of houses, back road that goes by Bunker Hill Beagle Club.  I drove on that road recently…housing developments everywhere.

So Emma will be learning to drive in the more cars, more highways environment. That is probably a good thing. Like the Pennsylvania Guide for Parents of Learning Drivers says “The more they drive in different environments, the better driver they will be.”

My fingers are crossed for a good driving experience for her. I hope this is not an omen. But I ordered a set of Student Driver car magnets. I was excited to get them. I got home from work last night, and there leaning against my door was a package from Amazon. I get in the house, tear the package open, and what do you think I find?  I find a packing slip that says car magnets. So far so good.  I get to the actual merchandise and it is…a book of piano sheet music, entitled Jim Brickman Hope. I don’t even play the piano! No magnets!

Magnets or not, the learning to drive process has started. And it will not stop. She is growing up. Another milestone has been passed.  Good things ahead!