Happy Birthday, Joycie!

Today our daughter turns into a 16-year-old. A milestone birthday if ever there was one. She Can Now Obtain a Driver's License.

I'm ready for it, really. And I know she is.

It's just that last weekend in our town a 16-year-old girl driving a car with her 15-year-old boyfriend made a 2-second fatal mistake -- she drove through a blinking red light on a busy road at about 10 pm. A large truck had a blinking yellow and, appropriately not stopping, hit them at the intersection. The boy died and she survived with little physical damage. Psychological damage is a whole 'nother story, I'm certain.

That's what is occasionally freaking me out. Just a couple of seconds of inattention and a life can be lost and those left will hurt deeply. And it's not just that I worry that Joyce, or Nathan, will be the inattentive ones, but ANYONE driving where they, or we, are driving... I mean, defensive driving only goes so far.

And then with the snowfall on Wednesday... it was coming down fast, and it was slushy and icy, and driving was a bitch. Around town, traffic was backed up all over the place, and I saw the aftermath of 2 fenderbenders. Driving home on the highway was ok, but it was slick. Other drivers were driving too fast for the conditions, and I hate that. So I think of Joyce driving in that and I hate that, too. Her dad declared that when it's nasty conditions for driving she wouldn't be driving to school that day. Yeah, that's fine, except when you wake up to a beautiful, sunny, clear day and then by the time you are driving home, it's a minor blizzard. That always happens in winter here. So she just has to know how to handle it. And how to be prepared for all the idiots that risk life and limb to prove their truck (or SUV) can handle anything at any speed. Ugh.

ANYWAY, today my baby girl is 16. Where'd the time go??! She's around 5' 10" and so tops me by about 8". I look up to her in more ways than one. She's awesome. I'm so proud of her. She's so smart and has a wonderful sense of humor. She's so creative and talented in so many areas. Sports, guitar, writing (she had me read an assignment project she put together on Huck Finn, and it blew me away, it was so good, so unique and wonderful, I mean really good). She's so capable and dependable. I can see the fine woman she's becoming. She'll be way better than me. I love my girl so much.

Happy Birthday, Joycie girl, my pumpkin-pie-o!