I am FREAKING out! This has become reality, and my words fail to explain what happened.
You must be sitting down for the rest of this. Trust me.
The cliché of “where has the time gone?” is all that comes to mind. Was time really and truly on my side? Only time will tell. OK, enough I know.
As I stated: I am freaking out!
This is a week of mile stones and with your help I might be able to get through this. Heck, you might of gone through this and will roll your eyes at me with “it will be all right, there, there.” Then again, you might tell me to “suck it up.” At this point, I am not sure what to do other than have a glass or two of red wine.
Here we go.
On Monday, my bonus daughter Becca officially became a (dare I say it) driver. She passed all of the driving classes and all of the hours she needed. She also purchased a car. Are you feeling me now? Wait, it gets better.
My son Connor turns 15 this week (no I am not old). You know what that means? MORE STRESS! I did promise him I would not be hysterical while he is learning to drive.
Honestly, this is not all that bad. My oldest bonus daughter Betsy asked me to help her learn to drive stick. That was about 6 years ago, and we both survived the day… barely, and yes there were tears: Her not me. Apparently her bonus mom was a better teacher than I was. Am I bitter about that still? HELL YES! Oh well, life goes on.
On a recent episode of our Blending The Family podcast, I asked Becca to come on the show to talk about teenager stuff. I wanted to get her thoughts about how to help dads teach their teenage drivers.
Becca’s biggest point was the parent needs to be extremely patient. That sounds very basic, but it is very true. For example, while I was trying to teach Betsy the process of doing the clutch and gear shift, I really had to be calm. Betsy is very “A” personality, so not being able to shift the car into first gear was VERY traumatic for her. In her mind, it would equate to failing a class of some sorts.
Yes guys, WE need to be patient.
My heart did break over the weekend with Connor. As a dad, you want to be the one who does many of the memorable events with your kids.
Unfortunately, there are times when it is not you. After my divorce, my former wife had her husband teach Connor how to ride his bike. That still hurts. During that time, my work kept me on the road, and I missed out. This time is no different to me. My hope is for me to give Connor his first driving lesson, as far as the parents go. I asked if we could go to a local high school to get him in the drivers seat. He said “no,” he wanted to wait until he started to take the driving lessons.
Did I mention that my heart broke?
Life will go on, and there will be those special events us dads will miss out on. Those will be tattooed on our brains. We cannot beat ourselves up. We can roll our eyes and suck it up. Oh, and make sure you are also patient too. Just no freaking out in public.
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