Hand of God

I have never been a very outwardly religious person. I am rather reserved, especially when it comes to my spirituality. I am a Christian--Methodist to be exact, but have always felt like I should have been Jewish since the Jewish faith seems to make more sense to me than any other religion; some of my family actually is Jewish, so maybe that is where my feelings come from. At any rate, last night I was talking to a friend from church who has a son who is a year older than my oldest daughter. We were talking about how strange teenagers are and then I asked my friend how she dealt (deals) with her son driving and being out on by himself. She said she has never really felt nervous about letting him drive and has always just believed that God would watch over him. I, on the other hand, have this overwhelming fear when I let my daughter drive. I'm not really sure where the fear comes from other than I am letting a sixteen year old operate a large metal machine out on roads where other people who are doing the same thing. I just worry, even though I don't want to. When I was a young driver, I did some silly things and made mistakes and got through everything okay. I know this sounds strange, but as a young driver and even now, I always have the feeling that I am in God's hands. I wear a "hand of Miriam" charm around my neck all the time to remind me that I am in God's hands. As I was leaving the church it occurred to me that I was making a big mistake about my daughter and letting her drive. Why would I assume that God would do anything less for my daughter than He has done for me? Why would I assume that only I am in His hands? What I need to do is trust that God is holding her and protecting her just like He has done for me all these years. I need to stop worrying, and allow God to hold her in His hand. How freeing is that?

Teenage Driver Danger

My oldest daughter is currently learning how to drive. She was very excited about getting that learner's permit and hitting the road; that was three months ago. Yesterday, she told me that she doesn't want to drive; that yesterday was the last day she was going to do it--it's too scarey and you have to pay attention to yourself along with everyone and everything around you! Part of me wanted to say, "great!" but I know that driving is something that she is going to have to learn. Teenage drivers scare me to death. My nephew, who is fifteen months older than my daughter, got his license this summer. I worry about him. There are so many distractions and dangers that I can hardly bear the thought of my nephews and nieces and my own children driving. In one instant, a wrong, inexperienced teen aged decision could end their lives. I just have such a fear of that; it almost makes me sick. My daughter told me that she tries to remember the stories she has heard about kids getting killed because of mistakes so that she doesn't make them. My nephew told me that his friend text messages friends while he is driving and steers with his knees; and he thought it was funny. Those kinds of things scare the living sh*t out of me. It hadn't dawned on me, until now, what a big deal having a kid operating a two thousand pound hunk of metal is--extremely dangerous and foolhardy--really. But, it is also a necessary evil. There is no way around it. The way communities are set up, there really aren't many places one can walk or bike to. Public transportation is only in larger cities--no such thing exists in the suburbs or out in the middle of nowhere where we are living now. I have a little time to steel myself for the day when my daughter will actually be able to drive alone. When that day comes, I am sure I will be praying a whole lot more than I do now!

AAA Motor Club

I just did something that I rarely do--I just purchased a membership in the AAA Motor Club. It doesn't sound like such a big deal, but since we have moved away from Indiana, and everyone and everything that is familiar to me, I have felt like I just don't have a safety net to catch me if something would happen. When we lived in Indiana, we lived close to my sister, my husband worked only about 1o minutes away from our home, and we had easy access to mechanics, tow trucks, hospitals, gas stations, and all those things that we don't really seem to think about very often, but when we need them, we really need them! Anyway, now that we have moved to "Green Acre Ville" as I like to refer to it, I have no way of getting help should something happen while I am driving around this awful area. I decided to stop fretting about it, and just went ahead and purchased the Plus Membership from AAA from their online site--without consulting my husband first! WooHoo! How daring of me. Anyway, I feel better and hopefully it will help me make my decision about whether to drive my 2000 Chevy Suburban with 150,000 miles on it, or to drive my husband's 2007 Huyndai Santa Fe back to Indiana this summer. Having the security of the AAA Motor Club makes me feel a lot more confident. Also, if I decide that the 600+ mile trip home is too much for me and the four monkies that will be accompanying me, then I can always use my AAA membership to purchase discounted Amtrak train tickets back to Indiana. It's all good--I've got it covered!