January 20, 1999
DOWN HOME:
She's getting a license to drive her dad crazy
___These are the times that try daddies' souls.
___A historic impeachment trial is taking place in Washington, of course. And the stock market, paranoid about the price of papaya in Brazil, took a tumble the other day. Don't forget the Y2K ruckus; some folks believe it will usher in Armageddon, pestilence and a serious shortage of Vienna sausageson the grocery shelves of America.
Marv Knox
Editor
___Worry about all that if you will. I'm concerned about a real deal.
___Lindsay got her learner's permit.
___Yup, the kid turned 15 expecting to inherit the great right of all modern Texans. She intends to take wheel in hand, set foot on pedal, look to the horizon.
___And drive.
___It's all legal. As best I can tell, the law allows a Texas citizen who is 15 and has passed a brief test regarding the automotive laws of our fair state to obtain a piece of paper saying she/he has Gov. George W. Bush's permission to sit beside a licensed driver age 18 or older and point a jillion-pound machine almost anywhere she/he wants.
___Scary, huh?
___Actually, I'm not worried about Lindsay. She's a careful, responsible young person. She wants to do well. And she's kind of scared. That's good.
___So, I figure if the other umpteen million of you Texas drivers will stay off the road for the next year or so, we'll all be OK.
___Since I'm pessimistic about that possibility, Lindsay and I have been practicing. We've been driving up to the church on Sunday afternoons for awhile, tooling around the parking lot.
___But now Lindsay's got that learner's permit. And she's itching to put tread on the street.
___Can't say I blame her. When I turned 15, the days moved as slowly as a glacier until I got my learner's permit. Then Daddy handed me the keys and got in the family sedan on the passenger side.
___What a sublime moment of panic and exhilaration. Seldom has so much adrenaline coursed through tingling veins. Now I know my dad was just as nervous as I was.
___And now it's my turn to return his favor by teaching my oldest daughter to drive. Even from the passenger seat I can tell you teaching will be the easy part. The hard part will come next November, when this bright light of my life turns 16 and expects me to stay home. Oh, letting go.
___Do you ever wonder how God feels about trying to teach us how to tell right from wrong, to serve and praise and worship and work? To live?
___Must be scary, especially when God knows when and where we'll fail. And yet God gives us the chance to try.
___That's freedom. Better than driving.
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