I recall a time when we ventured off to a new state, new life, with very few plans in place. Yes, fear kept touching my shoulder--but looking back, I remember that as one of our best times in life.
"So how can we know when fear is keeping us alive and when it’s keeping us from really living?" Thank you for this reminder--and you wrote it so eloquently and inspirationally. I have a feeling your shop is going to do just fine. But your contemplative thoughts and resulting peace are rich gifts for us all.
I did the main bulk of driving training with our first son but was more than happy to let my husband take over for our youngest! If nothing else, it does make you braver, a good point you make. Isn’t it amazing how, when we do our best with the everyday things God places on our laps, everything else seems to fall in place? From what I can see, you and Maile are doing such a great job. Cheering you on.
Yes! Very true. It's not that we ever completely get rid of the fear, but I think we learn how to listen to it and figure out what it's telling us. Glad to see you all made it across the country!
Our kids learned to drive motos in Cambodia from 2015-2020 then got late drivers licenses when we moved back to the U.S. They each had to drive with me for 6 months before they could take their drivers test. My ex left at the beginning of their six months and it fell to me (and I have BIG anxiety around this). From 2021-2022 I rode with 3 new drivers (including a Cambodian immigrant who had never been on US roads). I’m still recovering. Then when my youngest was ready for her 6 months, her oldest sister was 21 and could ride with her. She’s only driven me somewhere once. I still have big anxiety when any of them are driving on highways. SIGH.
Whew. Teaching kids to drive is no joke. Do you feel like having driven motos helped them at all? I feel like my kids are starting out in cars with zero experience--at least when I was a kid I had driven four-wheelers and lawn mowers and things like that.
It seems like most of our friends let their kids drive when they were younger out on back roads. One friend pointed out there are two parts to learning how to drive: learning to handle the vehicle and learning how to drive on the road with other cars. They found it helpful that their child had already begun the first part rather than trying to get both down at the same time. And I can really see their point. It was never really an option for us where we lived.
We are teaching our first child how to drive this summer. I already know that I am not the one to teach her. It’s going to be my husband. Tell Maile, “solidarity”.
Also, I’ve been thinking about doing a book proposal and that scares me for sure. Imposter syndrome and all that.
Shawn, here I was, enjoying your story, taking my own trip down memory lane with teaching my own child to drive (I share your wife's terror), remembering the first time I read The Hobbit, and then, suddenly, BAM! Your closing line. I felt like you were talking directly to me. Thank you. I think.
Driver training as a metaphor for doing the things we love. Brilliant. We're always in the passenger seat more than we like to think. Our fear may just be a way of reminding us of that.
You'll have at least four customers on the morning of August 3. 😊
By next week we'll be teaching our fourth (and last) child how to drive. The first day our oldest sat behind the wheel all I could picture was her as an eight month old (for some reason in her little bathing suit and sun hat) sitting behind the wheel. "I'm supposed to let this 8 month old drive me around in a minivan?!" It's only gotten a little bit easier and for some reason this last one feels the hardest, maybe because she IS the baby and it doesn't seem like it's time to let her loose among the crazy drivers of Nashville. Potty training and Learning How to Drive-least favorite parent jobs.
And the work it takes to act like you aren't silently screaming inside?!
Our daughter got her drivers license two summers ago, I did all of the teaching outside of class except for the highway driving. I just couldn’t do it. Something inside could not imagine myself going at those speeds with our one and only child. We are now empty nesters and life is shifting. Where it leads has me a little afraid, but I am stepping out knowing God is leading and I don’t want to look back at what could have or should have been. I want to know I walked the path and I experienced the journey. Thank you for sharing glimpses of life with us. I hope to visit your beautiful bookstore soon.
So good. When I taught our oldest daughter to drive, I called it "Mario Kart with Consequences" and was convinced that parents teaching teens to drive was the reason marijuana must've been legalized in our borough. 😂 But the Lord taught me many things in those evenings about how He gives us keys in life, and lets us control the wheel and the brakes, and doesn't micromanage us, because He is not afraid of anything we'll do.
I recall a time when we ventured off to a new state, new life, with very few plans in place. Yes, fear kept touching my shoulder--but looking back, I remember that as one of our best times in life.
"So how can we know when fear is keeping us alive and when it’s keeping us from really living?" Thank you for this reminder--and you wrote it so eloquently and inspirationally. I have a feeling your shop is going to do just fine. But your contemplative thoughts and resulting peace are rich gifts for us all.
Thanks, Karen.
I did the main bulk of driving training with our first son but was more than happy to let my husband take over for our youngest! If nothing else, it does make you braver, a good point you make. Isn’t it amazing how, when we do our best with the everyday things God places on our laps, everything else seems to fall in place? From what I can see, you and Maile are doing such a great job. Cheering you on.
Thanks so much for the encouragement, Laura.
A good word, yet again. I know that friend well, but I’m also getting used to the idea of doing things scared. So far I’m still alive.
Yes! Very true. It's not that we ever completely get rid of the fear, but I think we learn how to listen to it and figure out what it's telling us. Glad to see you all made it across the country!
Our kids learned to drive motos in Cambodia from 2015-2020 then got late drivers licenses when we moved back to the U.S. They each had to drive with me for 6 months before they could take their drivers test. My ex left at the beginning of their six months and it fell to me (and I have BIG anxiety around this). From 2021-2022 I rode with 3 new drivers (including a Cambodian immigrant who had never been on US roads). I’m still recovering. Then when my youngest was ready for her 6 months, her oldest sister was 21 and could ride with her. She’s only driven me somewhere once. I still have big anxiety when any of them are driving on highways. SIGH.
Whew. Teaching kids to drive is no joke. Do you feel like having driven motos helped them at all? I feel like my kids are starting out in cars with zero experience--at least when I was a kid I had driven four-wheelers and lawn mowers and things like that.
It seems like most of our friends let their kids drive when they were younger out on back roads. One friend pointed out there are two parts to learning how to drive: learning to handle the vehicle and learning how to drive on the road with other cars. They found it helpful that their child had already begun the first part rather than trying to get both down at the same time. And I can really see their point. It was never really an option for us where we lived.
We are teaching our first child how to drive this summer. I already know that I am not the one to teach her. It’s going to be my husband. Tell Maile, “solidarity”.
Also, I’ve been thinking about doing a book proposal and that scares me for sure. Imposter syndrome and all that.
Ha! I will pass on the message to Maile. And the book proposal sounds like a fear to lean into.
Shawn, here I was, enjoying your story, taking my own trip down memory lane with teaching my own child to drive (I share your wife's terror), remembering the first time I read The Hobbit, and then, suddenly, BAM! Your closing line. I felt like you were talking directly to me. Thank you. I think.
You're welcome! (I think.) :)
Driver training as a metaphor for doing the things we love. Brilliant. We're always in the passenger seat more than we like to think. Our fear may just be a way of reminding us of that.
You'll have at least four customers on the morning of August 3. 😊
Yesssss! Can't wait!
By next week we'll be teaching our fourth (and last) child how to drive. The first day our oldest sat behind the wheel all I could picture was her as an eight month old (for some reason in her little bathing suit and sun hat) sitting behind the wheel. "I'm supposed to let this 8 month old drive me around in a minivan?!" It's only gotten a little bit easier and for some reason this last one feels the hardest, maybe because she IS the baby and it doesn't seem like it's time to let her loose among the crazy drivers of Nashville. Potty training and Learning How to Drive-least favorite parent jobs.
And the work it takes to act like you aren't silently screaming inside?!
Our daughter got her drivers license two summers ago, I did all of the teaching outside of class except for the highway driving. I just couldn’t do it. Something inside could not imagine myself going at those speeds with our one and only child. We are now empty nesters and life is shifting. Where it leads has me a little afraid, but I am stepping out knowing God is leading and I don’t want to look back at what could have or should have been. I want to know I walked the path and I experienced the journey. Thank you for sharing glimpses of life with us. I hope to visit your beautiful bookstore soon.
“What kind of life is it, when it’s manipulated by fear?” This made me pause for a long moment…
So good. When I taught our oldest daughter to drive, I called it "Mario Kart with Consequences" and was convinced that parents teaching teens to drive was the reason marijuana must've been legalized in our borough. 😂 But the Lord taught me many things in those evenings about how He gives us keys in life, and lets us control the wheel and the brakes, and doesn't micromanage us, because He is not afraid of anything we'll do.