My 16 year old daughter has places to be. We were looking at the calendar together this morning at her appointments, weekly roping lessons, dance classes, and church activities, and she said…

“Wow, Mom, it’s going to take so much off of you when I’m able to drive myself.”

Yep. It’s going to take so much off of me. She’s right.

I could write a diatribe about the typical “mom” emotions surrounding her newly realized freedom and desire to make my life easier. You know exactly how it would read…

“How bittersweet it is!”

“Oh, just more worry!”

“What happened to our baby?”

If you’ve been through this era, you could write it all, too.  If you’re going through it right now with your teen, you could scrawl out a list of the same overlapping emotions. If you’re not there yet, you’re imagining the odd sense of grief mixed with the practical matter of convenience you’ve no doubt read about in plenty of other articles and posts. 

But, Y’all, I raised her to drive. I worked to instill independence and wanderlust. I pushed her to leave my side and participate, to stand up and join the action.  I promised her that one day she would go and do and see, and I worked to prepare her for the journey.

She gets her license officially in April, and she is counting the days. We got her a little car, and she practices driving by wheeling us around town often. She’s steady and calm. Her focus needs some work (oh, the challenges of an “ADHD-inattentive” soul!), but she knows that, and she really tries. She uses her signals, brakes relatively softly, and turns corners smoothly. 

Will I leap at the first opportunity to send her out in her car alone come April? I doubt it. I’m sure I’ll shed a tear or two the moment she pulls out of the driveway by herself.

But then I’ll smile.

She’s doing it! She is claiming her independence. She is taking on tremendous responsibility. She is infusing herself into the world, without me, and making her own choices along the way, without me. I love that!

She’s taking so much off me, yes, but she’s giving so much to herself! Go, Sister!

(But hey, watch your speed, turn that radio down, and drive like there’s a multi-tiered wedding cake, a house of cards, and a newborn in the backseat.)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,