Today was a big day. I handed my first baby the keys to the car and watched her and my second baby drive off to school ... without me. I was literally sick to my stomach all night with worry. Ultimately I decided to follow them over to school. Mark thought I was totally ridiculous but we don't just live a quick jaunt to the high school.
It's a good 25 miles and I needed to do it to put my mind at ease.
It's a good 25 miles and I needed to do it to put my mind at ease.
She did fine. She has spent a year listening to us coach her through everything from adjusting the
mirrors to starting the engine. The problem is that there is no way to prepare her for every situation she might encounter on the road. As I followed behind them, my nerves unraveling, I couldn’t help but smile a little at this milestone being etched into both
of our memories. Today I have been flooded with 17 years of milestones. Seventeen years of firsts. Like me at her age, Bailee doesn’t know that this milestone hurts a
little more than the thousands we’ve been through together.
She doesn’t understand that when I look at her nearly adult-sized frame in the
driver’s seat, I see my chubby cheeked baby reaching up to be held. She
has no way of knowing the joy and sorrow of teaching your kids
the lessons they need to learn so that they can be independent enough to leave you.


This is very sweet, Kim!!! I still think of your girls as the little girls they were once were. It's hard to believe they are all growing up so fast.
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