As we rounded the ramp to get on the highway, we noticed it slowing down significantly. Uh oh. Traffic. I turned to watch Jr. as he navigated merging. This was only the second time I'd been in the car with him when he was driving, so I was still a little nervous, though I tried my best not to show it. And honestly, he was doing much better then I'd anticipated.
"Do you think we'll make it by 4?" He asked nervously.
On top of starting to drive, he's also started working. I still can't seem to wrap my head around this mature teenager sitting next to me. I still imagine him as the four year old boy sitting at the kitchen table having coloring contests with the family, not this boy. This 16 year old standing almost a full foot taller than me, working 20 hours a week, and driving a car. Even this morning attests to the fact that he's no longer that little boy. We spent the morning at Starbucks working, both of us, on homework and grades. When did he get old enough for that?
I checked the clock, 3:06pm. "We should be OK." Just in case, I pulled it up on my phone to be sure traffic wasn't too bad. He took his job seriously and always got there early, I didn't want to ruin that for him. Luckily enough, it only showed traffic backed up for another mile or so. That was reassuring. Once I'd checked traffic, I opened up Spotify and loaded Johnny Cash's greatest hits, starting with "Jackson," one of my favorites.
We'd finally been able to merge and were resting easy in the middle lane, following cars and trucks as they slowly dragged forward. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. I told myself again, he really was doing a good job. I watched for a minute as cars continued merging and switching lanes. After a few minutes it seemed everyone was settled and sticking to their own lanes.
I remembered all those years ago when my mom taught me to drive and it was not pleasant. It was overwhelming and terrifying. I tried to keep quiet and just let him figure things out as we went, not critiquing every moment. I knew from experience that was a much more reassuring strategy.
However, keeping my mouth shut was harder than I'd thought. I knew I couldn't comment, but I really wanted to. I'd recently discovered Blogger had an app for my phone, making it much easier to write my posts. I decided then that I could write another post while he drove, getting a post published while avoiding watching him drive; two birds with one stone. I opened the app and started typing as I sang along to Johnny Cash's, "The Man Comes To Town"....
"Do you think we'll make it by 4?" He asked nervously.
On top of starting to drive, he's also started working. I still can't seem to wrap my head around this mature teenager sitting next to me. I still imagine him as the four year old boy sitting at the kitchen table having coloring contests with the family, not this boy. This 16 year old standing almost a full foot taller than me, working 20 hours a week, and driving a car. Even this morning attests to the fact that he's no longer that little boy. We spent the morning at Starbucks working, both of us, on homework and grades. When did he get old enough for that?
I checked the clock, 3:06pm. "We should be OK." Just in case, I pulled it up on my phone to be sure traffic wasn't too bad. He took his job seriously and always got there early, I didn't want to ruin that for him. Luckily enough, it only showed traffic backed up for another mile or so. That was reassuring. Once I'd checked traffic, I opened up Spotify and loaded Johnny Cash's greatest hits, starting with "Jackson," one of my favorites.
We'd finally been able to merge and were resting easy in the middle lane, following cars and trucks as they slowly dragged forward. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. I told myself again, he really was doing a good job. I watched for a minute as cars continued merging and switching lanes. After a few minutes it seemed everyone was settled and sticking to their own lanes.
I remembered all those years ago when my mom taught me to drive and it was not pleasant. It was overwhelming and terrifying. I tried to keep quiet and just let him figure things out as we went, not critiquing every moment. I knew from experience that was a much more reassuring strategy.
However, keeping my mouth shut was harder than I'd thought. I knew I couldn't comment, but I really wanted to. I'd recently discovered Blogger had an app for my phone, making it much easier to write my posts. I decided then that I could write another post while he drove, getting a post published while avoiding watching him drive; two birds with one stone. I opened the app and started typing as I sang along to Johnny Cash's, "The Man Comes To Town"....
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