AuburnChick's Adventures

Soccer Chick smiled yesterday.

A real smile.

The kind that comes from deep within your soul and lights up your eyes.

I hadn’t seen that in a long time.

All because I told her she could drive herself and Rockin Rooster to church yesterday afternoon…without me.

Have you ever seen the commercial for Disney Cruise Lines?  The one with the teenage daughter who seems to be sour all the time until the camera catches her cracking a smile when she’s on a jetski?  Of course the smile disappears when she realizes she’s being watched.  But the fact that she’s having fun is enough to break through.

That’s Soccer Chick.

She quickly started texting “Guy Friend,” but decided that the news was too good to type.  She had to tell him in person.  While she was talking, I hollered over, loud enough for him to hear, about how wonderful I am.  She turned, not agitated as she usually is, but with a smile spread from ear to ear.

Of course, I couldn’t let her drive off without the obligatory spiel…don’t fight with your brother, don’t answer the cell phone even if it’s your wonderful, sweet Mama calling…yada, yada, yada.

Then I watched her go out to the car.

“Wait a second,” I shouted, as I ran inside to grab my camera.  Moments like this must be captured for posterity.

The first picture (which I cannot post because you can see the kids’ faces, thus breaking my promise for anonymity) shows them both smiling…car is still in the garage.

I snapped another as she was backing out.

Then, she stopped, as instructed, and they both waved.

Click.

Then, off they went.  I got one last picture of the back of the car going down the road.

Sigh…

One day she’ll be leaving home for good.

Sigh…

She called me about ten minutes later to let me know they had arrived safely, and I followed her home from church after my own Bible study.  She did a marvelous job. I’ve taught her well.

Sigh…

Filed under: This-n-That | Tagged: driving, teenagers | Leave a comment »

What a crazy couple of days!

My afternoons have been extremely busy lately.  It’s a good thing I work part-time because the kids wouldn’t be doing what they want otherwise.  Well, okay, they’d probably be walking home instead of riding in an air-conditioned car.  Talk about living easy!

So, although Soccer Chick has been extremely rude and disrespectful, I finally decided to bite the bullet and let her get her license.  Off we went to the license place yesterday, Soccer Chick gabbing all the way there.  She got extremely nervous, though, after the examiner got up to lead her out.  I sat a nervous wreck as I watched my baby give me a look like she was being led to the slaughter.

About ten minutes later, she popped her head in the place and quietly asked me to  step outside.

“What’s wrong,” I asked.

“Mama, just come out here.”

All I could picture was a huge dent in the car.

When I finally got outside, she lowered her eyes and told me she had failed.  She hadn’t even gotten out of the parking lot.

My heart fell.  Poor darling.

Her first skill was to park and then back out.  Well, she knocked over a cone as she reversed, having parked too closely to the line.  Automatic failure.  If a car had been there, she would have hit it.  Good reason.  Bad result.

So, I took her back to school, where she had to eat crow, and I scheduled her appointment for the next day (today).  This time, she practiced parking a couple of times before going in.  Not a problem.  She didn’t look as nervous, except when she said that she would cry if she failed a second time.

I knew things were going to be okay when the examiner, a different lady, greeted us with a big, warm smile.  Score one for the easing of the nerves.  I gave Soccer Chick a few minutes to get out to the car before I sidled outside and spied her doing her thing, all the while talking to my friend on the phone (this helped me with my own case of the flutters) as Chick maneuvered her way in and out of the space safely before hitting the road for the rest of the test.

She came back with a huge smile on her face.

I knew she had passed.

She even managed to get a decent picture on her license too.

Score two for today.

Now I’m the one with the nerves.  She wanted to go out at 5pm to pick up dinner.

“Are you nuts?”  There are loads of people just waiting for a person like you.

We’ll do this slowly.  Perhaps I’ll let her drive around the neighborhood without me first…gently easing her out on the road on her own…without me.

Another hard part of parenting…letting go…literally and emotionally.

Filed under: This-n-That | Tagged: driving, teenagers | 4 Comments »