Today is Maggie’s 16th birthday.

Teaching Maggie to drive has been an experience in patience and empathy.

She’s full of the enthusiasm and desire for independence that most teenagers have. She’s ready to spread her wings and be her own person.

But the parents….not….quite…..ready. It’s a story as old as time. Parents learning to let go and kids trying to break free.

We watch this wonderful person and (think) we see all the future possibilities and want to have our hands on the steering wheel but have to let go. It’s harder than I thought it would be….

I feel so lucky and blessed to have such a good kid and to have had good parents who cared enough to struggle through all of this on my behalf.

It’s a good reminder that some haven’t been so lucky. We run into people every day and everywhere for whom this process didn’t go as well as it could have. Let’s remember to be as patient and kind with them as we all wished (or were lucky enough to have experienced) for from those in our lives.

God is good and I’m so very thankful that I get to be Maggie’s dad. She sure has taught me a lot.

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – NOW ACCEPTING – any and all advice on parenting a teenage driver.