Forward motion

"Straighten it out..., a little gas, a little gas, braaaaake, brake, BRAKE!!"

The road of parenting is a journey of constantly evolving degrees of movement and mobility. We wait eagerly for that first bit of motion, for our infant to roll from back to front to back again. Before our baby can crawl, we perceive that she is moving, imperceptibly, as if by stop motion photography, but moving, nonetheless. Somewhere around a year old, we breathlessly watch those first toddling steps, that quickly turn into independent cruising, and then in a flash, running, out of our grasp in a blink of the eye. And from that point on, the motion milestones fly by like mile markers along the highway, riding a trike and then a bike, somersaults and cartwheels, swimming...

Until they reach 15 years old. And then- driving.
Driving a REAL car.
(Or in our family's case, a Ford F350 12 passenger van. Which is the first-time-behind-the-wheel-preference over the Geo Tracker with standard transmission and no speedometer. We're not exactly offering great choices for the new driver around here...)

And then, as a parent, you give up any semblance of control you might have thought you had. That's when, quite literally, as your child veers precariously close to the next lane, you want to grab the wheel and keep her from careening into the car that's parked along the side of the road. But you know that you can't, that it won't really help, that she has to manage this one herself. And she does. You try to keep from screaming, but just a little squeal slips out. That was close.

Thankfully, there are big parking lots to practice in. We don't have to go on public streets quite yet, and the highway is a little bit down the road.

Truthfully, having another driver will be nice.