Driving Mr. Williams

Monday was a version of “D Day” for me…actually more of “DD Day” as in daughter driving. Call it one of those defining moments for a parent and child when for the first time you’re in the passenger seat with your 16-year old behind the wheel. My Alex officially got her learner’s permit this weekend and when I picked her up at school after track practice yesterday she basically said “move over, I’m driving home.”

This was not the first time our roles were reversed but the previous driving experience was pretty much limited to an empty parking lot, not the often-congested area of downtown Toms River. Plus she did her training hours in a much smaller vehicle then my SUV which it appears about a year from now will be hers anyway.

So with that said at around 3:30pm we buckled up and proceeded south on Hooper Avenue for the trip between High School South and Beachwood which to me seemed more like a cross-country venture when it’s actually only a few miles. There were a few occasions when I told Alex to slow down, stay in her lane, etc but for the most part she did pretty well which is more of a credit to her driving instructor then yours truly. Learning to drive in local traffic is certainly not easy because everyone is in a hurry and other drivers don’t know that an inexperienced and probably terrified kid is behind the wheel. Actually I think I was more terrified than my daughter, who like all kids looks forward to the independence that will come when she turns 17 and gets her license. For now though she’ll have to be content driving with her Mom or Dad, getting criticized, cautioned and second-guessed. It’s one of those rites of passage that mark growing up from child to young adult or in my case from adult to much older adult.