Driving Lessons

We were on the highway, returning from a town 30 minutes away.

With a sheepish grin on his face, my oldest said, "Momma, I have a new motto."

"I need to be prepared at all times."

"I need to know what I need to know before I need to know it."

My response,
"Uuuuum, how will you know what you need to know before it's time?"

"I have to be prepared for everything. When I think of something I will need to know, I need to know it before it is time."

I nodded,wondered what he was up to, and kept driving.

In the few moments that followed, as I drove down a highway surrounded by farms and fields, I thought about my life as a road. I keep driving taking turns here and there but I don't stop and I don't turn around. I can't.

If only it worked that way. There is so much I know now that I wish I knew back then.

Thank goodness it doesn't work that way. If I knew what I know now, I would have made different decisions and some great things in my life would not have happened.

Despite the twists and turns- and missed turns- we keep driving. Pressing on. It's what we can do.


My son? He interrupted my thoughts to say:

"Soooo... I was thinking that you should go ahead and start teaching me how to drive."

Not on your 9 year old life -or should I say, mine!