Lexi has been counting down the days until her birthday, and it started a couple years ago! She could not wait to turn 15 and take driver's ed. In Minnesota the parents are required to pay for driver's ed, I was shocked that it was almost $500! The kids have to schedule a time either after school or during summer break, and they attend classes for 2 weeks. They are strict on attendance, and they don't hold anything back- basically they scare the crap out of them so the kids understand why they have to be safe drivers. After they pass their driver's ed test they get a card to then take behind the wheel. This was my favorite part! They came to pick up Lexi from our house, then they took her driving for 2 hours. We had to take her a little before so she actually knew how to handle a car. They took her on freeways, one way roads, regular roads, parallel parking, and 90 degree back in parking. Once this was completed (3 times and 6 hours total) Lexi was given her blue slip. She was thrilled to pass and take her blue slip to take the written test to get her permit.
She of course passed and begged to drive us home. She kept saying all her friends drive home from the DMV, but I was very hesitant because we were in the Pilot and it's a much bigger car than the Corolla. I made a deal that I'd drive home on the freeway and get us to our church, then she could drive us home from there. In my mind it was straight roads with only one turn, a round a bout, and then we'd be to our neighborhood. She happily agreed and we got to the church and switched places. Here's where I realized all my flaws in my thoughts about her driving.. The road she had to drive from the church is called Manning Rd. It is a two laned road that has no shoulders and the speed limit is 55 miles per hour. Let that speed sink in- 55 MILES AN HOUR! She made a great left turn, but soon started accelerating and realized she couldn't tell if she was staying in her lane or not. I had promised myself long ago I'd never panic or shout at my child as they were learning to drive because it's a tense situation and it makes it way worse. Well, I was doing really well pretending I was calm, but trying to explain to her to not look directly at the road in front of the car- look out ahead of the car and the lanes look like a triangle point, make that her goal to stay in line with the point. She was doing pretty well until cars started lining up behind her because she was only going about 30 miles an hour. Honestly- I thought she was going way faster, but I think it was me being a bit of a panic. I told her to stay in her lane, stay calm, and I turned on the hazards lights so the drivers would pass. As they passed she instinctively would kind of veer to the right- but there's no shoulder- and a pretty big drop off. I kept reminding her to not veer, and to just drive straight. She was trying her best, but she started veering again and I broke my rule- I yelled that she was going to drive us off the road. She yelled back saying, "Don't yell at me, it makes it worse!" I normally would have laughed, but honestly I was freaking out- like any and all swear words were running through my head- that, and that we were going to die. I wanted so bad to tell her to pull over and let me drive- but there was no where to pull over- Manning Rd is about 5 miles to the turn we needed to make- 5 miles of me thinking we were going to die any second. I felt so bad- had we been in the smaller car she would have felt much more comfortable. All the cars eventually passed, and then we got to our 4-way stop to turn left. We all know if you hesitate on going at a 4-way the other car will just go, Lexi experienced that and I had to tell her to push the gas pedal harder. We made it home, I was a sweaty shaky mess, but she was thrilled that she got us home. I couldn't be excited for her until a few hours later after the sick feeling in my stomach went away. I was trying so hard to digest that we had a year of her driving- that I would indeed have to take her back on the road!
After a few weeks she really was getting much better and more comfortable, and after months of driving she was so ready to take her test and have some freedom.
She wanted her test on her birthday, but didn't want anyone to know when it was because a lot of kids fail- it's the parking, if you hit a cone it's an automatic fail. The day of her birthday she couldn't really be excited, because she was just so nervous. While waiting one of her friends came in to retest because they had failed previously. I was so glad- it helped her calm down a little while she waited. They finally called her name and she came back all smiles 15 minutes later. Her instructor said she was one of the safest and best drivers he's had and that he wished all the kids drove like her. I think her head inflated after that! I was really excited for her- OK well like 99.9% excited and .01% not. I really am scared for her to have to drive with dumb people on the road!
Darrell and I took her to lunch then back to school. She had softball practice after and would be driving home by herself for the first time. I was driving Carly to gymnastics when we passed Lexi coming home from softball- it was so funny! I had Carly snap a picture really fast.
We celebrated with a car themed cake. I had to order it last minute because if she failed I didn't want her to have a car on her cake. All they could do for me was this little VW bug and peace and love cake- but it worked just fine.
Lexi is an incredible girl, we love her so much! She has goals set for herself and she works toward them, she likes school, and she loves being social. She is so excited to go to Mormon Prom with her friend Caleb, in a couple weeks, and she was asked out on her first official date too. It's crazy that she's old enough for all of this!
Here's a little bit about Lex:
Favorite color: Purple
Favorite hobby: Softball and Choir
What do you want to be when you grow up: Elementary School Teacher
What college do you want to go to: One of the BYU's or University of Utah
What's the best thing about being 16: DRIVING!
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