Em | Creating Present Moms

He was three the first time he drove away from me.

Plastic steering wheel. About four feet of driveway. He got to the end of it and looked back to make sure I was watching.

Sixteen today. He passed his driver’s test. Same look back. Real keys this time.

Boy moms know the thing nobody warns you about. They don’t leave all at once. They leave in inches. A backpack he carries himself. A door that closes a little more often. A game he’d rather ride to with his friends. And then a car backing out of your driveway with your whole heart behind the wheel while you stand in the garage waving like this is a normal thing to survive.

I am so proud of him. I am also standing in my kitchen tonight doing math I don’t want to do.

Here’s what I’m learning: I can’t slow it down. Nobody gets to. But I do get to decide what I’m doing while it happens. I can put the phone down. I can ride in the passenger seat instead of answering emails in it.

Thirteen years between a toy car and a real one felt like about a week.

So be where you are, mama. Not later, when it calms down. It doesn’t calm down. It just gets shorter.

Happy 16th, buddy. God has had you this whole time, and He isn’t letting go on the day I have to.

Send this to the boy mom whose kid is about to start driving. And if yours is growing up too fast too, tell me his age below. I’d like the company tonight.

@aurielle.lindblom your reel got me this morning, tears in the kitchen, and then my kid came home with a license. @jamiemiller these words hit this mama’s tender heart today. Thank you both for the words on a day I needed them.

#boymom #momofboys #teenboymom #newdriver #motherhood