Youthful Mistakes

I have a newer appreciation of what my parents felt when I was sixteen and learning how to drive. The worry must have been overwhelming for them as they let me get in a car and drive off in the new, big world to explore. Man! Thank you, Mom & Dad, for having the faith to let your daughter get into a car and drive it on my own.

Tonight I had an accident. Nothing too serious, just scared the holy crap out of me. A kid, seventeen years old, tried to maneuver around two cars that had stopped abruptly in front of him. As he tried to get around the two cars he creamed me on the passenger side of our car. Thankfully, I was the only one in the car! Thankfully, no one was hurt. The accident could have been much worse than it was. I'm so thankful that God had a protective hand in all of this.

The poor kid was so anxious and worried. My nerves were frazzled too but I was able to keep a calm head throughout everything. As we waited for the police, who by the way never showed, I had the chance to observe this kid. You could just see the fear all over his face regarding what he was going to go through with his parents and with insurance. I didn't know how to ease his fears or calm him down so I just stood there praying. As we waited, and waited, for the police (and eventually his parents), I was able to get some information from this young boy. He had been in another accident recently and had several tickets. This accident was just another thing where the boy felt like he had failed.

Call me crazy, but my heart went out to this boy. I remember being young and making stupid mistakes. I guess my remembering my youthful mistakes, and being a mother, caused me to relate to what this boy was thinking and feeling. He has his whole life in front of him and yet he is so careless with his surroundings, not unlike how I was at his age. I pray that he will learn a valuable lesson from tonight's accident. I pray that he'll become more aware of his surroundings when he's driving and become a more responsible driver. I pray that he will have the opportunity to grow up to be a responsible adult and that his youthful mistakes won't hurt his future.

As for my little girl, I'm thankful that we've got a long way to go before she'll be behind the wheel of a car. We have so many things to worry about before she reaches the legal driving age. Even still, I am thinking we may not let Violet get her drivers license until she's 17 or 18 (more and more parents are doing that now). I'd like to wait a little bit longer before we let her get behind the wheel of a car and let her mature more. A year can make a big difference in a child's maturity level. Besides, it'll give Violet another reason to go to a therapist someday and rant about what horrible parents she has.