My 15 year old son is 5 months away from getting his driver's license and it's all he can talk about. ; Yesterday, I let him drive me in his awkward but semi-confident teenager way.. around the neighborhood. ; He was nervous, no doubt...but as we drove by a group of his friends, he sat up straighter and nodded, at first, seriously, and then with a grin..at his buddies. ; I swallowed the lump in my throat, came home..and took a photo that captured how I felt in the moment. ; That the days are fleeting and it's happening a lot faster than I'd like. ; Wasn't it just yesterday that he was falling off his skateboard...running in for a kiss and a bandaid? ; Then he graduated to a snowboard, and his mother's worry moved into a different arena. ; This..though. ; Wow..this one's harder than I thought it would be, and he hasn't even left the neighborhood yet. ; Letting go, is no easy task. Last summer, he bought this old skateboard from a friend and he stripped it, sanded it for hours, revarnished it and added a hulagirl sticker on the front(that one made me smile). ; It won't be long now before he's on the thing again, and 9 or 10 boys will be out in the yard playing football and doing all the crazy things that boys always do. ; Someday, I think it will eventually end up in a box, but I won't ever throw it away. ; It means something to me. ; Alot of things actually. ; I will take it out and hang it back up in my garage until I'm 90 and I'll walk by it once in awhile and smile. ; He asked me if he could have this photograph and I told him I'd print it up for him. ; He thought it was cool that it says STUD in the background. ; No matter how old he gets, that goofy grin will always sit in a little boy's face to me. ; But don't tell him that. ; He'd hate it.
Great story Roni! ; My son is 6, already and I can't believe how quickly that this has gone. ; I feel your pain!
I'm sorry.. but the only thing I can say is "awwww". ; Please accept this in the positive spirit that it's intended.
