16 Again!

Okay, raise your hand if it feels like you just turned 16?  Okay, so maybe it has been a few years, like, 24, for me, omg, 24 years...but come on, if I close my eyes I can remember every single detail of the day.  Where the hell did 24 years go?  Or an even better question for me tonight, is where did the last 16 years go?  You see tomorrow, my baby, my first born, my Mitchell, is going to enter into another world, the driving world, and that means that I am entering another world tomorrow too, one where I get to sit up late waiting him to arrive safely home because he is old enough to drive himself every where now.

Now don't get me wrong, I am pretty much going into this world with as much resistance as I can. I prayed at nights that time would slow, and my kids would stop growing up so fast.  I watched as they grew out of their cute little work boots and overalls that I dressed them in as little boys, and their Scooby-Doo fascination seems like it never existed at all.  And even my younger son, Nathanial will be joining the "I don't need mom so much crew" tomorrow, because he of course would rather go with his cooler big brother to things now instead of having his mom schlep him every where.

If I close my eyes, I can remember the first night I got my driver's license.  It was snowing pretty good, and Dad had purchased a brand new car on the same day(I know, what was he thinking, right)?  Actually, it was mom's car, Dad always had a truck.  But I digress.  On the day I got my license, it was snowing, we had a brand new car, and in rural Cape Breton that night, there was a dance in Mabou!  If you are from rural Cape Breton, then you know, if there's a dance, then you have to go!  I begged and pleaded with mom, but she didn't think it was a good idea, the roads weren't great, and it was her new car.  Dad landed home from somewhere, and before my mother had the chance to even give him the look that said that he should say no, he had already said I could take the car and go to the dance.  I don't think I ever moved so fast in my life to get out that door before mom could get dad to see the reasoning that she put out there.  Now that I am in the same position, I am actually shaking my head, there is no way in hell Mitchell is getting my car on the very day he gets his license.  LOL...I bet my mom is turning red and saying, "It's alright that it was my car and snowing.".  Mom...you were right, I shouldn't have gotten the car that night.  And here's the confession!

I didn't go straight to the dance, and home.  As often happened as a teenager, it was all Tim's fault, lol.  I can't remember if I went to pick him up or if I ran into him at Bobby's store that night...but he convinced me to go to West Mabou, in the snow to pick up John(Wendell) Campbell.  Well, didn't I get the new car stuck in his driveway?  Good thing I was a good driver and we got it out, lol...I think Carmen(John's dad) or Angus(his brother), helped.  But we got out, and we made it to the dance, and eventually we made it home safely.  I guess there are a few stories of nights out with friends and things we did that our parents never knew.

Maybe that is why I am having so much anxiety about this change that is coming in our lives? Teenagers will be teenagers, and they will go looking for fun, and friends, and hopefully they will just remember to do it safely.  Or maybe I should just start drinking my way through the teenage years?  I won't have a car to go anywhere anyways....