Speeding through the years
It seems like yesterday my son was just learning how to walk, how he is driving now?
Google photos often sends me notifications of “memories.” Yesterday it sent me a collage of photos of my oldest son, who is now 16.
I remember those sweet versions of him fondly and although he looks much different now, he’s still sweet. It’s rather surreal, how day to day turns into years passing by. Sometimes it breaks my heart to know the younger versions of my kids don’t exist anymore (except in photos and videos). It all happened so fast and when they were younger, I was too overwhelmed to appreciate it.
My oldest son has his driver’s permit and my husband has been taking him out driving. Today was the first time I was in the car while he was behind the wheel. He’s learning, but there were still some bumpy patches and at times felt like I was on a nail-biting amusement park ride.
Here’s a post I wrote back in July 2011, called “A conversation I didn’t expect to have for at least 10 years.”
On Thursday evening one night last week, the kids and I met a friend at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix for a flashlight tour. It’s a self-guided tour along paths with different stations that you stop at to learn about different things. Zachary and Jadon got to feed a tortoise, learn about owls and bats and see a gecko, a bullfrog, tadpoles and a tarantula. Adam rode along in the stroller, pretty quietly during most of it until the loud protests near the end.
Zachary liked to be the leader, leading the way with his flashlight. I think it may have gotten to his head a little bit. When we got to the car, he opened the front door and climbed in the driver’s seat. “Can I drive?” he asked. “No,” I replied, “Please get in your seat.”
“I’ll be careful,” he said. “I won’t crash into anything.”
Perhaps the conversation came about because the weekend before we were at a birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza and he played one of the driving video games (which, I might add, involved a lot of crashing into the wall, spinning in circles and even flying off the side of bridges).
We went back and forth a few times, I even agreed that he could sit in the driver’s seat and pretend to drive (with the car off, of course). But no, he wasn’t seeking to be patronized. “No, really drive,” he said. “Mommy, I’ll be careful.”
It was a conversation I didn’t expect to have for at least 10 more years. Definitely not one I’d have with my 4-year-old.
And now, here we are about12 years later and there he is behind the wheel actually driving down a main street with other cars.
It was also significant because today would have been my Uncle Sonny’s 92nd birthday. He was a driving instructor for many years and he died a month ago today. I thought of him today as I sat in the passenger seat and admired his patience and bravery for spending so much time riding with new young drivers.