Driving Lessons

I have been in a very reflective mood lately so please excuse this post if it feels too reflective, personal, or cliche. As we were driving home (or rather as Amy drove us home) from track practice tonight my mind was processing all that has been happening in our lives and how many life lessons can be related to learning how to drive. (Please note that I will refer to Amy a lot...not because she is a worse driver than Dani but because she drove home tonight and Dani did not.)

Dani and Amy have been driving from time to time to (as Dani put it) "keep the feeling" of how to drive. They seem to enjoy driving and are getting pretty decent at it too! We still don't trust them to pull into the garage because that's just scary but otherwise they are doing well. Anyway, on to sharing my thoughts about life and driving.

Sometimes you need to go fast, sometimes you need to slow down.
I don't generally let the girls drive in Nebraska--only in South Dakota. So tonight I drove until the turn-off by the state line, pulled over and switched seats with Amy. She did a nice job of checking to make sure no one was coming before pulling out onto the highway...at 15 mph. I instructed her to use a bit more speed next time because pulling into potential traffic that is traveling at 50+ mph requires a bit more speed.

Sometimes in life, we need to use speed--we have no choice because life moves quickly at times. We have been experiencing that lately. If we don't keep up, we will get lost in the shuffle and miss out on things that need to be done. At other times, we need to slow down and take in the sights. With spring upon us and beautiful weather nearly every day, I have been trying to make a conscience effort to slow down when possible to enjoy these wonderful spring moments with the family. Today I was struck by how amazing the new life of spring truly is. Last fall a huge fire burned a lot of the pastureland right next to the highway we drive everyday and we have had to look at the ugly, bare ground since then. Today as Amy drove, I noticed that green grass is starting to grow back...how wonderful to see that! Of course, my sight-seeing was interrupted by needing to remind Amy of the next lesson...

Stay on the right side of the road!
Amy has some trouble with this concept--due to the fact the we drive on the right side of the road here and she is used to the car being driven on the left side. This is obviously a pretty big deal when an oncoming car is approaching but it is also a fairly big deal between time. The more you drift into the other lane, the more it feels okay and the less you notice it (at least in Miss Amy's case!) Like life, we can become complacent and not realize things aren't going the way the should until it's too late. Staying on the right track turns out to be the easiest way to get to your destination.

The only problem for me is that sometimes the right side of the road isn't clearly defined and determining what the correct path is can be difficult. George recently interviewed for a different teaching position and they offered him the job. Tomorrow I will interview at the same school for a music job and I'm not sure what the right decision will be if they offer me that job as well. I love where I am now but the other school would allow me to teach only vocal music and would have better facilities. On the other hand, CK has the greatest students ever and I would be so sad to say good-bye to them. Which one is the right side of the road? There are not clear indicators. Lucky for me, the next lesson learned is...

Be ready to go the wrong direction and have to change your path.
Most of the time, if you turn the wrong way or head in the wrong direction, you can turn around or make enough turns to right yourself. Things might get a bit hairy at times (like if you turn the wrong way down a one way...) but there are not a lot of mistakes you make that cannot be corrected somehow. The same is of course true in life. I firmly believe that mistakes will happen and the way in which we react to them determines their impact on our lives. I tend to be fairly calm, cool, and collected most of the time. (Obviously this isn't always true but unless I'm totally stressed out I can usually put things into perspective.) When I make a mistake, I try to stay calm and figure out the best way to right the wrong. I have found that getting worked up about things usually doesn't help the situation and so I anticipate that I will make mistakes and prepare myself to take those mistakes in stride and react calmly. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't.

Life is a lot like driving a car. As I am parenting and instructing our lovely girls I find that I am learning to appreciate all of the things my parents went through and taught me. It is scary to get in a car with a teenager behind the wheel! Parenting is pretty scary though...and I'm only a stand-in parent. Every decision I make, every mood I am in, every word I say is being soaked up by two young ladies that need me to be a loving, good role model. I know I fall short all too often but every day I get back behind the wheel and try again.

P.S. Sorry I have no picture to share this time. I will have to share some when the green grass REALLY starts to come in :)