Dear Dop -
How've you been? I know I don't write that often, but your mailing address is hard to come by. I'll just assume that this will find its way to you somehow.
Today is kind of a big day. Sometime later this evening our godson will turn sixteen, for crying out loud. I know! Since time and space matter little wherever you are now you probably can't relate to the idea anymore, you'll have to trust me -- time does fly. It doesn't seem that long ago that he had a OCD-like knowledge of Pokemon. Or would fall asleep with a small lamp on in Grandma and Grandpa's basement because of the unfamiliar surroundings. Or was given the nickname 'Webster' by the dudes at his 5th grade lunch table because of his penchant for interjecting polysyllabic words into everyday conversation. And yes, I know, I'm largely to blame for that. I'll own it.
In case you forgot or don't relate to it anymore, sixteen is a big deal birthday here in 21st century America. This is the year he'll be able to test for his driver's license. And the boy isn't putting that off much, since he takes the test tomorrow. First of all, YEAH, you better worry and pray for him and watch over and put in a good word with anyone you can put in a good word with, because he's going to be out there driving on his own now. I'm not worried about him behind the wheel, but I do have this fair concern about the amount of stupidity the other chuckleheads he'll be sharing the road with are able to carry out on a daily basis. Drunk drivers, sleepy drivers, texting drivers, Mr.-Putting-On-His-Pants-Behind-the-Wheel, just to name a few. It does make me nervous.
But I suppose he's already been on the road with all of those people his whole life, only just in a passenger seat. So I know I should shake it off and get over it, but it's such a change. I still remember how different it felt when he had finally grown big enough to sit in the front seat with me, and suddenly he became less of a little kid I had to ferry around to Tae Kwon Do and Elk River and the movie theaters, and more of a guy; someone I could hang out and have a good time with. Someone interesting.
So now he's taking that one last car seat promotion into the one behind the wheel. I have no doubts he'll pass his test. The first time I rode while he was driving was when he drove me and Jen and the fellas down to Cottage Grove for the summer bash. And he drove right through a good twenty minutes worth of apocalyptic downpour, rain so hard it was pooling on the freeway and spattering the windshield with white water so hard it may as well have been paint. I would have been praying rosaries in my head just to make it to an exit so I could pull over and wait and wimper, but he just kept on going, straight and steady and appropriately slow, with his mom beside him in the front seat knitting away like it wasn't a big deal at all. Which I'm sure helped keep him from freaking out as much as I wanted to.
So I wanted you to know he's ready for this. He'll do fine. He'll still have the finer points of it all to learn, but he's been driving awhile now and has plenty of time to figure the rest of it out. It helps greatly that he is well on his way to becoming the person we always knew he had the potential to be and we hoped he'd be in our loftiest wishes. When you're peeking in to check up on our daily lives sometime, just watch him for a bit. You'll be so happy with who he's becoming.
I hope all is well with you, though I imagine it is. Thanks for the cardinal this morning; I needed the moment of calming it brought. Told you I wasn't going to forget about that.
I miss you. Hard.
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