Learning

Earlier this summer, some relatives were visiting us, and my sister-in-law Julie pulled out her knitting to pass the time. She was making a pair of socks, and they were so pretty! I told her that I have always wanted to learn how to knit. When I was little my Grandma taught me how to crochet, but I never took it up as a hobby. Since Julie was my captive houseguest, she agreed and we went to the craft store and bought a skein of yarn, some needles, and a book titled "Learn to Knit in One Day."

Well as you can guess it took longer than one day but with a lot of help from Julie and many references to the book I eventually did get the hang of it. My first few attempts were awkward and contained lots of mistakes. First I made this little purse, and then I made this scarf and hat for Jeffrey.



I am very proud of my knitting progress. The more I do it, the easier it gets.






Also around that same time, Timmy was taking Driver's Education. In Michigan they can do that when they are fifteen, and then get a whole year to get in 30 hours of practice driving with an adult before qualifying for a limited license at 16.



Once Tim completed his training, I took him to the Secretary of State office to get his permit. The plan was that he would drive home from there.



He filled out the paperwork, and looked into that vision test machine. It all went well until we got into the car. Tim wasn't used to the feel of my truck's brakes, and the gas pedal. We lurched around in the parking lot. Jeffrey hollered for a change of drivers from the back seat, but I knew we had to start somewhere, and this was it.

When he pulled into traffic, I had that exact feeling that you get on a roller coaster.
Not that hands-up whee excitement. More like the way it feels at the moment when the cart has crossed over the top of the first hill, and you are looking down at the impossible slope of track. Also known as pure terror. Except in this case it is sustained for the entire car ride.

In the backseat, Jeffrey plugged in his ipod and closed his eyes. By the time we got home, tensions were high, for all of us.

I saw some advice for a friend in this similar situation that said to keep an open bottle of wine in the refrigerator, and a glass of it already poured, for when you walk in the door. I wish I'd done that!

But since then, I have been taking Tim out for drives of different lengths, in different conditions, and he really is getting better at it. Like knitting, driving isn't something that you can learn in one day. It takes practice, lots of it, to get good at it.

So now I feel a lot more confident when I am being chauffeured around by my son. Only moments of terror, instead of the whole time. And I hardly ever have to slam on the "invisible brakes" on the passenger floor mat.

This weekend I even had time drive for a couple of hours as we went on a mini-vacation Up North. He did very well. While we were up there, we went golfing. We rented those little electric carts. Guess who talked me into letting him drive. Uh oh!