My baby is driving!

Words can't describe how I felt yesterday as my youngest (who is sixteen) passed the DMV written test and got her driving permit. I think the words, oh shit, came to mind several times. This meant I had to let her drive MY car, with ME in it and not lose my mind. Basically, I was a bundle of nerves and emotions...I can only imagine what she was feeling. But she did good. We drove around a parking lot several times to just get a handle of the car. Then we drove around another parking lot to get more of a handle of the car. Then we drove on the street with other cars! Although, she did great, I don't want to do it again for another three years...which means I'll be sitting in passenger seat, trying to pretend that I don't want to scream and jump out later today.

So, here it is.

I have no idea where to start. The beginning seems too long ago. Right now seems so immediate. Maybe somewhere in between?

Like the other day when I was driving my daughter home and she was upset about something. Then all of a sudden in the midst of her feeling sad about her situation she broke down in tears about a little boy named Pablo. We met Pablo two years ago when he was three years old (and she was fourteen). We shared a house with his family for a week while a attending a wedding. Pablo has been recently diagnosed with Wils cancer and is undergoing chemo for several months. She said how could she be so upset about her life when this little boy is fighting for his. I was speechless. What sixteen year old isn’t self absorbed, right? Not her...at least not right at this moment. I felt her pain and her dilemma. It was a life lesson that I learned ago. Life is random and tragically unfair at times. We have only one shot to be here, so don’t sweat the small stuff or allow them to own you. And so here at age sixteen, driving down the 224 on a Friday night, she was learning it too. And I thought she will never be the same and that is a beautiful thing.