Good morning.  Actually, my morning could be better; my son Thomas just happily drove away on his first snowboard adventure.  All day yesterday I had acted very cool, I really tried not to let the fact that he was getting his drivers license bother me and turn me into one of "those" moms.  You know the ones, cries over her children getting older and hangs onto her kids for way too long?  Well, last night I became one of those moms.
It had been a long day.  In usual Judy fashion, a trip to Denver means to pack as much in as we possibly can to avoid multiple trips down the mountain.  So, the kids and I had taken care of all of our returns and had a nice lunch at our favorite place (Carl's Jr.-ha!).  It was when we walked into the DMV that it started hitting me.  I knew how excited Thomas was, but I just felt ill.
He is a fantastic driver and has a very safe car, but what about all of the other idiots on the road?  What about patches of ice?  What about...the list could go on for miles of things a parent worries about when their child gets their drivers license.  I do know one thing, and that is that he is a very cautious driver.  One of his girlfriends was killed on the very same highway that he will have to drive a lot and it affected him tremendously.  He turned 16 in May and was not over anxious to get his license until recently, which was more than fine by me.
So anyway, I got home later than I like and was exhausted.  Thomas had made plans with his friends and was of course ready to go after waiting what seemed like forever for that golden license.  I was still playing it pretty cool until I got the e-mail from my Mom about my cousin having her baby.  Not that I was sad for them (really, what a joyous time!), but it just really struck home that she was having her first baby, and mine was heading out the door for the very first time as an independent person.
As you can imagine, I was a tearful idiot saying goodbye.  I tried to act tough, but it just wasn't happening.  Thomas called me several times throughout the evening and was home two minutes before his curfew.  We all survived it fine, but now I'm wondering when I will get used to it.  Probably never!