Using an old photo from a year ago, we are just as happy today after our daughter drove away in her first automobile. Too bad I didn’t have any whiskey to mark the joyous occasion! Hee, hee!
By Dan Bodine
There are demarcation rituals in Life one customarily passes through that signify a young person has thrown off its old skin and replaced it with a newer, more mature layer. Quinceañeras and high school graduations come to mind! Getting behind the steering wheel of that first car is another.
Today our daughter Maiya Kareli Bodine drove away in a shiny, blue colored 2019 Nissan Sentra her mother and I will help her pay for. But only partially.
The lion’s share of the burden will be on our new adult daughter. Working in only one job in a prominent coffee house in El Paso while in a temporary hiatus, too, from degree studies at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Later, of course, her ol’ papa had to sneak away to a corner of her now vacant bedroom and cry some — yes, turning loose of your only child is a tearjerker! So many memories back through the years come flooding in on ‘ya.
But this is a moment all parents must go thru, of course. Rituals of parenthood aren’t for sissies! For as the old adage goes, only by turning them loose are they ever free to come back. And back and back and back…
Wow! Pandemic, Trump and all, Life is going on and on. Still! Gracias a Dios!
— 30 —
I am so pleased to see you so happy, even if you are struggling. Your family is blessed to have you.
Rhonda
Thanks much, Rhonda. Apologize for not responding sooner. I’m lost “under the hood” on these things, and thus can’t get automatic notices set properly. But seeing a glow on a daughter’s face is momentous, yes! That “first car” traditionally is a big step in one’s independence in Life. And of course all of this brought back a flood of memories when I was going thru that period. I’m guessing “Life Experiences” someday will be like DVDs one can purchase off a store shelf — that’ll add certain wrinkles to your brain. Glad I won’t be around then, though. Getting them with the emotions is so much more delightful! Good to hear from ‘ya!