I couldn’t find the Buffalo Springfield song…but here’s a version by Keb Mo’.
I couldn’t think of a thing to write about this morning.
Then I “got to thinkin’ ” about it and came to the conclusion that it was pretty weak not to be able to think of anything to write about.
If I am breathing, something is happening around me.
There’s always going to be something to write about.
Yesterday, we went out and roamed around, went up to the bagel store and got some bagels, drove up to Asheville and watched a movie at the dollar theater, drove back down and picked up some lumber at Lowes.
We had a full day of it.
“Nothing to write about”?
Harumphhhh.
Some of what made yesterday a little interesting…(and I say “interesting” because the experience is so new…soon it will be as unconscious as most of the things that I do)…is that my “new driver teenage son” drove me into town in the little Toyota truck….and then drove me and the lumber back in the evening when we’d finished our “doins” up in Asheville.
We take most milestones for granted. I don’t know why that is. Driving seems to be one of the big ones…births, graduations, weddings are other huge milestones. There are a lot of milestones in a life.
I’m not saying we don’t notice that they’re important. It’s just that in the moment I think we’re so caught up in the event that we don’t really appreciate how big a deal they are.
We think, “How’re we going to pay the caterer?” or “My insurance is really going to go up NOW!!” and get distracted.
We understand…but we don’t really notice. Maybe we notice after the fact. I don’t really know. It’s hard to be mindful of every moment.
But it’s a big deal to have your child drive you.
It’s a big deal to have your child aim a 2000 lb hunk of metal with wheels on it…and to suppose that they are going to do their best not to hit, scrape, bump, plow through, go up, go down, flip over, gotoofasttooslow, or even find a way to bounce more than they should….all of this while you are held to the seat with thick and strong nylon straps.
And the most important part of the experience is to convey to the young adult…. your young adult, your child that you raised….that they are competent and capable.
It’s important to convey that they are going to be able to make this leap towards adulthood…that someone on the other trapeze is going to catch them when they let go of the bar.
Maybe that’s not a good analogy. Maybe to say that it’s going to be a soft landing when they clear that 28th school bus is more fitting when they’re doing their first driving.
Anyway….it’s a gift that keeps on giving if you can let your children know that you have faith in them…no matter how frantically you scan the road ahead for all the kooks who might get in their way.
You can’t let your face show the concern you have for their well-being. Don’t let them smell the fear.
You just have to hand them the keys.
There is always something going on.
I am breathing.