With Fear and Trepidation

Today marks a big day in the life of a parent.... I will be handing over my keys to Michael so that she may find her way ALONE to work. Now there are several factors at play here. I don't know if you remember or not, but on the day Michael received her license, she made the oh so wise choice to not only leave school, with the closed campus, but to drive a friend with her to Taco Bell. We all see how those choices play out, with her it happened to be having to replace the bumper on my car, and the license plate bracket on a very kind and understanding man's jeep. So, now we come to this period, 6 weeks later.

Michael has gotten a job, all on her own, without prodding from parents. She is to start her job tonight, and the great debate has been, does Mom drive her there and back? Or do we allow her to drive herself? Michael has a terrible time with directions. She drove herself to Young Womens at our church, which just happens to be 5 minutes away, called us 45 minutes after she left, in tears because she was hopelessly lost. An hour later, she came home, threw the keys down and told us in disgust how mad she was. What is a parent to do?

My wonderful, wise husband told me that I couldn't help her forever that eventually she would have to go out on her own, so yesterday we took a trip. A family trip. We had Michael drive the 20 minutes to her new job, with us in the car, writing down directions for her for every turn there and back. Now, I have had her make this drive several times with me, since it happens to be in the same area where her father works, but she still didn't understand how to get there. So now with directions in hand, she will leave our home at 5:00 pm and return at 4:00 am without her parents, luckily this will be the only time she works these hours, but the question remains, should I get up at 4:00 am and go get her? I will keep you informed on the latest decision......