teens and cars and right-of-passage....oh my!

Wow....my friend's daughter is going to be 18 this thursday. Amazing to think she has kids that old but tonight I let Brook drive my car since she needs like 30 trips in her "driver's log" before she can take her driver's test. Amazingly she's pretty good, though really nervous. Funny but I never thought I'd relax in the passenger seat with a "student driver" but it was fine. She even joked about halfway home (it was about a 5 mile drive) how "you're great to drive with...you're not yelling". I assured her that if she did something glaringly wrong then I'd mention it to her but otherwise why bother? Constantly checking her speed (well, okay...I did check it a couple times out of the corner of my eye but she kept to the speed limit) or doing the "parental imaginary brake stomp" every five feet would just put her on edge. I told her since she has a late start for school tomorrow she could drive me to her school (its on my way to work) in the morning rather than taking the bus if she wanted (about 16 miles) and she literally jumped at the chance. I also agreed to let her drive up and down Hobble Creek Canyon when I got home from work in the evenings if she wanted additional practice....I have been officially labelled "big sister" for that one. Funny but it felt good to be able to help her out, especially since its nothing really big to me (so I get chauffered around!) but it means so much to her....actually I think it could be fun, and on the plus side not only does it help my friend (who is somewhat nervous anyway) but it gives Brook confidence as well since she won't have me freaking out in the seat next to her (which apparently happened on mom's last trip with her!) Keep you posted....for those of you who know how much I love my baby (he's a 93 Corsica) keep your fingers crossed that he makes it in one piece!