These days it’s rare that I’m in the driver’s seat. As a mom of a 16-year-old, my son has taken over driving duties as he clocks behind the wheel hours in anticipation of getting his driver’s license. I’ve gotten used to the view from the passenger seat as he drives anywhere and everywhere.
He confidently pulls into spaces in the grocery store parking lot, navigates to orthodontist appointments, and has even driven and escorted the dogs to the vet for their routine shots. Suddenly I’m the one hopping out of the car to grab takeout as he waits with the car.
As we approach the huge milestone of my son getting his driver’s license, I’m cherishing the small moments in the car together. We’ll muse about the cost of a vehicle’s mods (ground lighting and rims never go unnoticed) or speculate how a banged-up car on the flatbed of a tow truck might have met its demise. I’ll seize teachable moments about road safety to reinforce safe driving practices, especially when we see other drivers being unsafe around us. Sometimes we’re quiet, listening to songs he’s queued up on his Spotify playlist and other times we’re just talking about nothing in particular.
I hope I’ll always remember how his eyes were locked on the car ahead of us as he drove over the Bay Bridge for the first time this past weekend or how the sun hit his left arm as it casually rested on the driver’s side door as we drove with the windows down on an unseasonably warm fall day.
I’ll fondly look back on the times when he’s driven his friends, with me in the passenger seat, and the confidence he has behind the wheel. I might not remember which indicator lights he’s asked me about, but I know I’ll always recall how observant he is, of things inside and outside the car, when he’s in the driver’s seat.
As parents, we look forward to the big milestones but as my kids grow up, it’s these individual moments that are worth remembering.
“Someday soon you’re gonna have families of your own, and if you’re lucky, you’ll remember the little moments like this that were good.”
—Tony Soprano, The Sopranos, Season 1, I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano
Huge thanks to Toyota for lending me the 2022 Corolla Cross XLE AWD so I could get back in the driver’s seat for a few days! I loved the affordability of the small but mighty Corolla Cross. It drove like a smaller car but had the functionality of a larger crossover and all the safety features you’d expect from Toyota. My son enjoyed comparing features in the cars we own to the Corolla Cross XLE AWD from the passenger seat and as you can see, the moonroof was a huge hit! Affiliate links included in this post.