Driver’s Ed…Parent Taught!!!

Yes, I have taken on the duties of teaching my daughter to drive.  She has put it off and put it off and I finally got her to start the driving portion IF I TEACH HER.  She said the man at the driving school was a retired coach and he was creepy, so she didn’t want to get in the car with him.  OK.  Understood.  I wouldn’t want to, either. But, now I find myself at 53 teaching a 17 year old how to drive.  Having kids later in life can have weird repercussions.  I should be knitting or baking cookies.  Not holding on for dear life, trying like hell to push my right foot through the floorboard on the passenger side, as if that would somehow magically make the car FUCKING STOP BEFORE WE BACK END (no giggles here, either) A CAP METRO BUS.  Truthfully, she’s doing a good job.  It’s just that I have realized driving is one major step in her independence, and one more major step away from me.  We are going to look at a nearby college next week.  It’s only about 30 miles away, so I think I can deal with that.  I don’t think I could deal with her being hours and hours away from me.  I’m just not ready to let go.  This child has been such a mommy’s girl, her nickname used to be Velcro.  She was stuck to my hip like rubber cement.  Now I feel her moving away at an absurd speed.  She’s gone to plaid. (Spaceballs, anyone?)  My husband is talking about retiring, my daughter’s leaving home next year and I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.