I have some more thoughts on Sierra passing her driver’s test, none of which I think reflect amazingly on me.

They don’t reflect poorly on me, but I think they do speak in some ways to my insanity and some ways to my niceness.

Let’s talk about both in equal measure.

Your daily Lex.

So first, you know, I got there and I’m waiting in the cold for Sierra to arrive and I’m seeing other people take their driver’s tests.

And I don’t know what’s happening in terms of if they’re passing or not, but then when they get out, you can see if they have this big smile or not.

And I found myself getting choked up at strangers’ kids getting out of these cars with big smiles having passed their tests.

I’m like, oh my God, they passed the driver’s test.

How great is that?

And then I was remembering, yeah, I choked up at Ani’s.

And of course I choked up a little bit when I saw that Sierra had passed.

That one I actually choked up less than some of the strangers, not because I cared less.

I definitely cared more, but because the moment was not spoiled, but it was drawn out in a different way because I had the driving instructor next to me being like, oh yeah, she passed.

If she hadn’t passed by now, the driver test giver would have stopped the car and made her, gotten themselves out and made me get in and drive with Sierra back to here.

The test would have ended at any point if you fail.

So yeah, she passed.

She’s good.

And then you see her get out and then you see her laugh, or before she gets out, you see her laughing and smiling while she talks to the test administrator and then smiling big as she gets out.

And then she says, yeah, I passed.

So I found out too soon.

So the emotions got stretched out.

You get it.

It was fine.

But then later in the day when we come home, or when Sierra gets home from school, she’s like, I have so much freedom now.

I can go anywhere.

I can go anywhere, anytime.

And I’m like, well, you have rules still.

She’s like, I know, but I can just get in the car and go somewhere.

I feel so free.

And what was remarkable to me was I remember having the exact feeling she was describing when I passed my driver’s test.

I was younger than she was because the driving ages were different in Pennsylvania versus New Jersey.

But it really struck me in two ways.

One, how joyful she was and how much freedom she clearly was feeling.

And that’s a beautiful thing.

And then also like, yeah, I really do remember that feeling.

And there’s something very beautiful to me about her experiencing a feeling that I can truly connect with because I did it too.

I felt the thing.

And I remember the feeling so vividly.

And I got exactly what she was describing.

And so yesterday was her second full day with a license.

And she’s like, when I come home from school, I’m going to go to Starbucks and then I’m going to go to Sophie’s house.

And I was like, am I okay with that?

Did mommy approve?

Are we okay with that?

And we kind of decided, yeah, I guess we’re okay with that because she passed the test.

She got to drive.

She drove to Starbucks.

And I was like, my rules right now are you got to text me when you get to Starbucks and you got to text me when you get to Sophie’s house, which she did.

I only did a little bit of stalking on my phone of seeing where the car was and how fast it was going and things like that.

I didn’t do much.

I decided it wasn’t healthy for me to do a lot, so I didn’t do a lot.

And then when she came home, she’s like, I just drove all those places.

It was so cool.

I’m so happy.

And I’m like, well, it’s time to go right now to pick up Liam from his drum lesson or rock shop lesson, one of those things.

Do you want to do that?

And she’s like, yeah, actually, I do.

Then she got a little nervous because she had never picked him up there and wasn’t sure exactly how to navigate the parking lot.

So I went too.

But really, it was self-serving because next time she’s just going to get him by herself.

And how amazing is that?

And then we had separate nervousness on that, right?

Like, wait, we’re going to let one kid drive another kid?

We had the same thing when Ani drove the kids, but like, it’s scary and you have to let them do it and you have to be scared of it.

And it’s, yeah, it’s scary.

Parenting never gets any easier.

It’s not true.

My advice to all parents is that I think it gets easier over time, but it never stops being hard.

Man, letting her go in the car is so, and I keep reminding her, like, still be nervous.

Like, I get that you’re more confident now, but still have some nervousness, too.

Like, you know how you can drive, but you got to know about all the other cars and you got to always be thoughtful, always be careful, always be a little nervous.

And she’s like, okay, but she’s a kid.

What else is she going to say?

Anyway, those are all my thoughts on my kid driving.

Thank you so much.

Goodbye.

Lex.