Any parent of teenagers can tell you there are few people living in their home more irritating, once they begin to drive.
Armed with a state-issued driver’s handbook and the requisite number of road hours, classroom hours, and practice hours, these pre-adults who just moments ago thought mom and dad could leap tall buildings, scare away monsters and heal all wounds with a kiss, suddenly begin critiquing our abilities behind the wheel.
“That wasn’t a complete stop, according to my teacher,” she says. “I’m pretty sure the speed limit is 30, not 32, Mom.”
The evaluations often end when the clever parent returns the favor on any one of the many car trips when this same child has begged to drive. She begins to understand the lack of joy involved with a backseat driver in tow.
But every now and then, the child has me dead to rights. Like last weekend, on our trip to Salt Lake City.
“You didn’t use your blinkers, Mom,” she points out, frequently. “The other drivers don’t know what you’re going to do.”
I shoot her one of those “don’t mess with mom” looks. Darn it. She’s too grown for it to work anymore.
And then she hits her pastor/mom with the clincher. She starts quoting scripture. “Even God says you have to use your blinkers. It’s in the Bible,” she says. “Prove it!” I retort. “In Romans, it says, ‘How will they know if no one tells them?’” She’s won. So now, I blink.
I'm trying to get back in the habit of writing every day. Lately, I've been working on character sketches. Some of those will find their way here, in the form of individual comments to this post.
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Armed with a state-issued driver’s handbook and the requisite number of road hours, classroom hours, and practice hours, these pre-adults who just moments ago thought mom and dad could leap tall buildings, scare away monsters and heal all wounds with a kiss, suddenly begin critiquing our abilities behind the wheel.
“That wasn’t a complete stop, according to my teacher,” she says. “I’m pretty sure the speed limit is 30, not 32, Mom.”
The evaluations often end when the clever parent returns the favor on any one of the many car trips when this same child has begged to drive. She begins to understand the lack of joy involved with a backseat driver in tow.
But every now and then, the child has me dead to rights. Like last weekend, on our trip to Salt Lake City.
“You didn’t use your blinkers, Mom,” she points out, frequently. “The other drivers don’t know what you’re going to do.”
I shoot her one of those “don’t mess with mom” looks. Darn it. She’s too grown for it to work anymore.
And then she hits her pastor/mom with the clincher. She starts quoting scripture.
“Even God says you have to use your blinkers. It’s in the Bible,” she says.
“Prove it!” I retort.
“In Romans, it says, ‘How will they know if no one tells them?’”
She’s won. So now, I blink.