License to Drive

 

 Lillian the Domestic Engineer   HOME
License to Drive

It is the subject nightmares are made of. It is a force much larger than one can imagine and way beyond your Parental control. It is a powerful tool to the highway of Life where you can go as fast as you like until you get caught or run into somebody head on in reality.

It is the fear of midnight knocking at your door and the Dread of seeing an Officers face ...and then hearing no more.

It is the panic that parks itself in your gut every the car is out.

It is your own thoughts that keep you awake while in vain you attempt to shake the fear that your late driver can and will create.

One by one, years after year my hopeful Drivers and I made the trip to Registry Office in the small Community just West of us where each would line up to write as I stood up to pay for the Learners Licenses.

It was agreed that I would treat the first effort only and that each would then be responsible to cough up fees requires for any additional testing.

As it were the Cash Cow wandered right up onto the road in front of several

of the hopeful Licensed Learners. At 65.00 per time to write the test and no opportunity offered to review or change an answer I saw red and not the Cow in front of me.

Be what it may I will now make the trip again in another 30 days.

I verbally encourage my deflated driver while maintaining a speed that I hoped set a good example for the driver to be. The speed however also served to prolong the misery being inflicted upon me from the back seat driver sitting beside me,

"Mom it's cheap. MOM it's not fair."

I smiled at the face that smiled back at me from my rear view mirror

not feeling near as disappointed as the teen beside me. Honestly I felt

  relief in a Motherly way that the Law wouldn't allow him either to drive away.

Can't take my Mom's car, I'll call you later today I heard him say to the passenger in his lap who prompted me to say

"Who are you talking to? What are you doing? When and with Who? How many kids are traveling with you? Whose car is it anyways and what do those parents have to say about texting while driving or being out late?"

I took a breath before asking "Did you hear me?"

"Mom, it's not fair that you don't trust me" was the response he fired

aimed at the guilt in me.

My teen then changed the Radio Station and I my tune.

" It has nothing to with trusting you Son" I continued

"And everything to do with Loving you" I finished

I know the toughest thing I have to do is let my children go.

I did let my Son go to the picture show as it were with a promise that he had to keep. There would only be 4 teens in the car and if for any reason he needed a safe ride home he would call me. No questions asked , no explanation required until tomorrow.

Finally we would face the Road Test. The test that required I transport kid with car and wallet back to the Registry Office at the appointed time set for freedom testing.

The drive there at any speed was terrifying for me because I was not at the wheel and because soon my teen could and would be at the wheel without me.

I knew I was driving my opinions and probably my kid home for the last time. They would all soon be driving on their own time. Alone with keys in pocket and lives in their hands.

The Road Test Itself was very real but the just pretend One Way Street in town

is as real as the pretend cars on the street making the physics of parallel parking more of an imagination feat if you can imagine!

All I could imagine after discovery this fact was confusion in the street when later that week the kid wanted to drive East on the highway to the small City where he would then be texting me to ask me if he can turn left onto a one way street.

Oh the joy of small towns suddenly screamed of sarcasm to me and the real purpose of a cell phone took on new meaning for me.

Life or Text? I mean it.

I am also a M.A.D.D Mother and my kids know it.

A designated Driver drives you or you don't goeth!

They have all made and kept a promise to their Family and Peers to drive responsibly.

See Dick drink. See Dick drive. See Dick Die. Don't be a Dick.

The loss to a community is not a cool sight to see.

Did You Know? Road crashes are the number one cause of teen death in Canada, and approximately 50% of those deaths are alcohol-related.

Did You Know? Call 911 programs have been shown to increase arrest rates for impaired driving between 30 and 50%.

My kids are no longer passengers on the road or street sitting in a baby nor my passenger seat

 they are so much older now and much wiser than we know 

They've been watching every move, everywhere we go.

They are new drivers now learning on the go that looking out for others puts you in the know.

They are looking to see if you are looking back to see. 

Thumbs up to courtesy.

Did you use your signal light or speed through yellow lights. Did you cut off that driver just because you had the right? Did you speed through the School Crossing or double park at the Grocery Store while swearing about the driver in front of you that you don't even know?

Did you miss the corner and curse needlessly because you were busy texting so you just didn't see? Tis a scary thought to me as my Kids take many corners before arriving home.

You want me to believe that the call you received was really a matter of immediacy in spite of your unsafe traveling speed? Seems rather ironic to me.

Buckle up baby and get off the phone. Pay attention the Terror must go

Distracted Drivers are a curse and a Hazard to have on the road.

I now ride along as a Parent on the Band Wagon advocating for Safety.

Slow down and live to teach another day. Speed Kills.

Children tend to do as we do and not as we say!

I remember my oldest saying to me one day after having been driving for 6 or 7 months "Mom I remember all the things you told to be aware of when driving but I don't remember you ever telling me how great it would be to be cruising down the highway with the Sunshine on your lap and the breeze in your hair with your favorite tunes blasting on the radio, heading for home at the end of the day."

Isn't that the way it should be?