My daughter asked me to let her drive home from her gymnastics practice last night. My first thought was “No way!” but then I realized she’ll never learn to drive if I don’t let her behind the wheel. What good is driver’s ed. if she never gets to practice what she’s learning? She also had learner’s permit with her, so she was about as legal as anyone else on the road. Heck, my own mom is driving around with an expired license, so it’s not like we were doing anything illegal. It just feels so darned weird!
Her gymnastics teammates and their moms were gathered outside the gym talking when we switched roles of driver and passenger. My daughter is 6 inches shorter than I am, so it took her awhile to adjust the seat and mirrors to fit her smaller body. This adjustment period and her fear of backing up gave them plenty of time to crack jokes and feign fear for our lives. I wondered if we’d ever make it home at this rate. The younger gymnasts, who already look up to older gymnasts like my daughter, were watching with awe and fascination as they witnessed this rite of passage.
Before we pulled out of the parking lot, I made absolutely sure there weren’t any cars coming in either direction. I didn’t want to be in an accident the night before I left on a business trip. As we were pulling into the street, my daughter asked which lane to pull into. Eeeek! She really hasn’t been paying attention when we leave the gym every night. Left lane I replied, but not the turn lane. I wondered if she knew what that was yet. I desperately wanted a steering wheel and set of brakes on my side of the car, so I could guide her or stop her if necessary.
On the highway, she asked me how fast she could go. I told her to look at the speed limit sign, which was fast approaching on the right. She looked and veered slightly out of her lane. I sucked in a deep breath and resisted the urge to grab the steering wheel. She corrected on her own and accelerated hard enough that she was soon exceeding the speed limit as we climbed a hill. I gently reminded her to slow down—she was speeding and wasting my $4 a gallon gas. I knew it was a lot for her inexperienced young brain to take in all at once: looking off the road at a sign, staying on the road while doing it, and getting up to but not over the speed limit while climbing hill with another driver on her tail. Who has time to glance down at the speedometer with all that going on?
She’s going to need LOTS of practice, as would any new driver. That’s why it’s called practice. I have to remind myself I was the same inexperienced driver many decades ago. Although she struggled to maintain the speed limit the way an experienced driver would, she spotted an obstacle in the road before I did. There was a large green lump ahead of us in our lane on the expressway. It was an evergreen tree—and it was big enough we needed to go around it—quickly! I told her to check behind her in the lane next to us, then signal to change lanes and if the coast was clear, change lanes fast before we ran over that tree. She handled it with relatively calm finesse and did a great job. She was quite proud of herself—and so was I.
After the tree-in-road incident, she had to navigate construction barrels and reduce her speed while construction workers were pounding and drilling pavement in the next lane. In a few places their barrels pushed into our lane, forcing vehicles slightly off the road. I feared our tires would catch on the pavement’s edge and pull us off the road, making us scrape along the overpass barrier. I think I stopped breathing several times while I envisioned gashes forming along the side of my SUV, but we made it out of the construction zone alive and unscathed.
I know this is one of many practice drives we’ll have, so I’ll just have to find ways to calm myself, believe in her and keep a wary eye out for danger– all at the same time– which is a lot to ask of this experienced old driver’s brain.
