Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Baby, You Can Drive My Car

As I write this, it's 9:50 pm and I'm sitting in a creaky, threadbare recliner in the lobby of an old storefront. Two of the three kids are with me - Midkid is watching Doctor Who on a smart phone, while GPS reads Catching Fire. FutureStar is deep in saxophone lesson territory in the room down the hall.

Earlier tonight, I drove FutureStar to pep band, then picked up the other two and delivered them to their music teachers, followed by another trip to the high school to get FutureStar AGAIN, driving from pep band to lessons.

Meanwhile, one of FutureStar's classmates came out of his lesson, walked to his car, and drove home.

I had two reactions - sadness that I didn't get to chat with his mom during lessons, and overwhelming jealousy. Because she didn't have to sit in the recliners of dubious origin waiting for her kid to be done.

And it's not just lessons. Zero hour jazz band. Running to the store. Sports practice. School group projects. So many activities to chauffeur, so little time. 

So while I was a bit wistful when FutureStar started driver's ed a few months ago, I'm now counting down the months until that license is a reality.

Because this time next year, when the kids have music lessons, I can hand over the car keys and say, "drive safely, honey."

And some other parents can take over the slightly scary recliners.

3 comments:

Skylar Kade said...

That's a hard transition, handing over the keys. I was overjoyed when it happened to me as a teen, but looking at it from a parent's perspective makes that a murkier moment.

Also... Doctor Who on the phone? Parenting, you're doing it right :D

Meg Benjamin said...

And don't forget the joys of concerts. By the time mine got to high school they were good, but the ones in Middle School were sometimes excruciating.

Erin Nicholas said...

Oh, yes! I can so relate! Quickly went from having my heart in my throat from the time she walked out to the moment she walked back in to "hey, run down to the store and get me some more cheese".

Just like every other part of parenting-- there are good and bad sides to everything! :D