Life will never be the same

As of yesterday, my daughter is legally allowed to drive. Yes, she passed her learner's permit test and couldn't wait to hop behind the wheel of her car. We convinced her that driving in downtown traffic the first time ever wouldn't be a good idea though.

We drove out of town and stopped for gas. She had to pump that herself and wasn't pleased. "That's a boy's job!" she said. Randy wasn't amused and made her do that anyhow. She does get that from me. I hate to pump gas. It's smelly and not something I do if there's any way around it. I'll drive a few extra miles to find a gas station that will pump it for me. :)

We pulled over to the side of the road and she gets behind the wheel. Her little brother kept muttering under his breath, but was smart enough not to say it out loud. She drove for about an hour through lots of construction, then pulled over to let Randy take it into town. We took her to Red Lobster to celebrate. It was excellent. Daughter had a few gift cards, so she got a two-pound whole Maine lobster. She loves to eat there and always picks out her own lobster and holds it before it's cooked. She named this one "Brunch." It waved good bye to the camera before it was taken off.

Just before we left, the waitresses all came out and sang Happy Birthday to her since it was also a birthday party.

Randy drove until we were out of town and let her take over. We did stop at Michael's grave. There is nothing that can bring home more just how serious a car can be than to go there and see his headstone.

She did very well driving and put in two of the required 50 hours of behind the wheel driving for her license. Our State requires that and the first time she can try for it will be on December 22 of this year. We'll probably wait until spring for her to try. Winters can be brutal around here and the roads are horrid. She'll learn to drive on snow and ice though. That's vital, too.