Driver's Ed Starts Tomorrow *gulp*

I can vividly recall the day that I went down to the DPS office and took the test to receive my Learner's Permit. And I remember getting behind the wheel of my mom's mini-van for the first time to practice driving around our neighborhood. We were living in Alaska at the time and I was eager to get as much practice behind the wheel as I could possibly squeeze in. I felt so grown up! My rocket boosters had launched me into a whole new stratosphere.

There is one particular "practice run" that I will never forget though. My mother wanted me to get the feel of the road, so we got out on a long stretch of road would take us back towards the the Chugach State Park. It was a beautiful drive full of turns, hills, scenery, and changes in elevation. Some of these elevation changes included a mountain on the driver's side....and a steep drop-off on the passenger's side. :) My mom was incredibly B-R-A-V-E. It was pretty nerve wracking to be behind the wheel, but I thought I was doing a pretty good job!

As we drove farther out of town the road started to wind around a bit, and the hills got bigger. The real "action in the cockpit" started when we got farther up into the foothills. I remember driving up a hill and as we came around a corner, the terrain on Mom's side of the car dropped off into nothingness. There were no trees to block our view, and we could see for miles. We were probably having a conversation about something random, when all of a sudden my mother started beating on the door....her feet were braced on the dashboard......and the was yelling "GET OVER! GET OVER!! GET OVER!!!" I had gotten too close to the white line and my mother was seeing her life flash before her very eyes.

Fast forward about twenty years.....

Conner starts Driver's Education tomorrow through the high school. It's hard to believe that he's old enough to start getting behind the wheel, and even more inconceivable that I'm gonna be the one to get in the passenger seat at some point. EGADS!! I've known that this day was coming. I knew that I wouldn't be able to put it off forever - it's the natural progression of growing up!

Thinking of seeing Conner climb into the drivers' seat gives me flashbacks to that day in Alaska. In my invincible teenage mind, I'm sure that I thought my mother was totally overreacting and blowing things out of proportion...I mean, I wasn't really THAT close to the edge, right? Ugh. Just the THOUGHT of him behind the wheel makes me want to throw up in sheer terror. My mother had GUTS. I don't know how she managed to summon the courage to let me back behind the wheel to drive again!

Do we really HAVE to let them grow up?

Can't we just go back to preschool, play dates, and Happy Meals?

Pretty please....with sugar on top?!