Now We're Rollin'

June 24, 2011
Just like her mama, Bree decided to wait until she turned 18 to officially hit the road as a licensed driver. Congrats, Bree--now you're rollin'!

Driving Lesson

May 21, 2009

My fifteen-year-old had her first driving lesson yesterday. Sort of. Actually, her dad took her out driving in a parking lot twice, but the first time she was so nervous, she wouldn't even step on the gas. She just put the car in drive, and crept along as slowly as the car would go without any outside impetus moving it along. At about five miles an hour, she practiced turning the wheel, and (if I'm not mistaken) getting a feel for the brakes. The second outing with her dad was slightly more successful, by all accounts.

So, yesterday, she got her first professional lesson. An instructor from the driving school met us at the high school. He did his best to put her at ease, and when she nervously asked him, "You have insurance, don't you, just in case I crash?" he assured her that most of the students he worked with had very little experience, and he was totally at ease putting his life in her hands. She, of course, glanced at me, the look in her eyes saying, "You'll still love me if I accidentally kill this guy, right?"

After I, too assured her that she'd be just fine, I asked the guy what time I needed to return to pick her up. He looked at me quizzically and said, "You want her to come back here? She can just drive home if you want, and then I can take the car from there." Wait--what?? I don't have to pick her up? Oh man, I am gonna love having another driver in the house! I started daydreaming about all of the extra time I'll have when I give up my second job as a taxi driver.... I was brought back to reality by Bree, who was reluctantly saying, "Okay, Mom. I'm leaving. I love you....," the last line uttered as though by one who highly suspected she'd never see me again. I walked away, crossing my fingers and praying that all would go well.

It did, luckily. Bree's a quick learner, and her instructor was a fun and funny guy. He tried not to make her feel nervous, or lame because she didn't know how to drive. I actually think she'll look forward to her next lesson. Tonight she actually starts driving with me (her permit wasn't valid until she had her first lesson), but I did tell her I wouldn't make her negotiate the high school parking lot after school. I have a hard enough time driving through all those crazy drivers--you know, the seniors who are so eager to get away from the school grounds at 2:45 that meandering pedestrians and novice drivers are in very real peril. No, she'll drive with me later on tonight, when we are headed to her sister's end-of-season softball party. Wish us luck, because if she and I are both in a vehicle that crashes, that will leave all of the taxi duties to my husband, and I'm pretty sure he won't be thrilled about that.

I remember my own first driver's training class. I took driver's training when it was still offered as part of the school curriculum--it was part of our P.E. class, oddly enough. (It's a good thing, too, that it was offered at school, because that made it free. I'm pretty sure if my mom had been told that she'd have to come up with $400 to put me through driving school, I would have gotten my license much later in life.) We got divided up into groups of three. Inexplicably, there were only three of us whose parents never got the memo that it might have been a good idea to give us a little 'behind the wheel' time before we turned fifteen. I mean, there were student drivers who could drive circles around the instructors. They were so comfortable behind the wheel that they could have taught the course.

I was not one of those. Nor was my friend Jim, nor was the foreign exchange student who happened to be in our group. I'm not sure if it was mere coincidence, but the three of us ended up doing our driver's training together. I was hard on brakes, giving my passengers whiplash. Jim had a bad habit of punching the gas when he took off, compounding our whiplash problems. But we were nothing compared to our foreign exchange student, who careened down the neighborhood streets, nearly sideswiping parked cars every time she got behind the wheel. She was so nervous about staying away from on-coming cars that she would have driven on the sidewalk if she could. We made quite the impression on our driving instructor, whose face and voice remained surprisingly placid, though if you looked carefully, you could see the white knuckles gripping the sides of his seat. Suffice it to say, he still vividly remembers all of us to this day.

I am quite sure that it is because of the fact that there were no calm, experienced drivers in my car that I was in no hurry to get my license. I completed my course, but it was almost another two full years before I decided to get my license. I am hoping it does not take Brianna that long to go out and get hers once her training time is done. I am ready to hand over the keys to the taxi.

The Road to Independence...and More

May 7, 2009

I'm a little slow in getting to this latest blog, because there's just so much going on. We did survive the kitchen flood with not too much damage, but it was quite inconvenient. As we head into the home stretch of school, we are both winding down and winding up. There are so many end of the year activities for me and each of the kids that May is the storm before the calm. Yeah, we do things a little backwards around here.

First of all, my AP students have their test today. Hallelujiah! All of the prep work for the whole year leads up to this morning, bright and early at 7:30. (Of course most of them have other AP tests next week, too, but they'll essentially be done with my class as soon as they turn in their tests later this morning.) I greeted them at their testing site this morning with a sugar-high snack for their break between the multiple choice part and the essay section--a box of Nerds and a giant Smarties candy roll for each of them. Get it? They're my AP kids, my own little loveable 'smarties' and 'nerds.'

Also, those of you who read my previous post know that I attended our school's prom on Saturday, and all of my darlins made it back safe and sound to class on Monday. I'm not kidding when I say it always makes me a little nervous to read the Sunday paper the day after the prom. I'm always worried there will be some big accident after prom that makes Sunday headlines. Thank goodness, no tragedies to report. The prom was beautiful, and not only did I get to see many of my students, but I got to hang out and chat with one of my good friends all evening, because our duty station was together (and not anywhere near the dance floor, to my relief!)

The kids also have lots going on in their worlds as they gear up for state testing and all of their end-of-the-year activities. I got to go see Danielle accept her award for Principal's Honor roll for the third straight quarter (she's gotten all As this whole year!). I am so proud of her, and I have just seen her self-confidence sky-rocket this year. She is also just loving softball, and has now gotten the taste of crossing home plate more than a few times. The whole team has really improved, and I can see them becoming more comfortable in working together to accomplish their goal. Danielle is our athlete AND scholar.














Nicholas has been a reading MACHINE, which is fabulous, because there was a time when he wouldn't pick up a book. (Much to the chagrin of his English teacher mom). If I'd let him, he'd stay up all hours of the night delving into his books (Star Wars novelizations are some of the biggest hits right now, but he'll read other stuff, too.) Come to think of it, I seem to remember my mom having to come in several times a night to turn my light off AGAIN or take away my flashlight because I was reading past bedtime. Anyway, what we are working on now with Nicholas is balance. He's getting so into whatever book he's reading that classwork is becoming a nuisance. Go figure. His grades this quarter weren't what he (or we) wanted, because he was spending so much time in his books that he wasn't finishing all of his classwork. I think he figured out that the cost of those grades (no video games--gasp!) wasn't worth the additional time reading in class, so it looks like we're back on track. Balance, my friend. It's a tough trick to learn.

Finally, Brianna had a spectacular week. She and a small group of her friends, mostly sophomores, decided they wanted to try out for the choir's Spring Show. Miss Organization got together her group, made the song selection, and planned the rehearsals. She had auditions last week, but then found out the list of those who made it wouldn't come out until this week. She was all nerves for a week, until yesterday morning, when the list finally went up. They are so excited and proud of themselves (as am I), and are now in the process of costume design. The concert is in a week and a half, and I can't wait! To make it an even more exciting week, Bree took (and passed!) her driver's permit test. She is officially on the road to independence! We went down to DMV on Monday afternoon, and as soon as we found out she passed, we took a little celebratory shopping trip and had a mommy-daughter dinner, just the two of us. (I was going to take her shopping and out to dinner either way--either celebrate or console. I'm so happy it was the first!) By the way, more about DMV in another post....














Two additional side notes:

It looks like Doug's work at the construction site is wrapping up. This could mean big changes for us, as it might mean he'll have to switch to the Bakersfield site, which is two hours away. If that's the case, he'll probably just work down there all week, and only come home on the weekends, which would be a huge bummer. But it would definitely beat him not working at all, which is a situation a lot of people are having to deal with right now, so I'm grateful that it looks like even if the Fresno gig is over, the work is probably not.

Also, my ex's mother is quite sick, and in the hospital right now recovering from surgery. I'm really hoping she gets better soon, because otherwise, Mother's Day will be a tough one for him. Sending good wishes her way....