Going to work tomorrow is really going to suck! That translates to "I've been having a great time with my son"! His Christmas gift to me this year was creative and very cute. I got a Christmas tree, lights and a Spongebob ornament. His mother told me he had a concern about not having a tree at my place for Christmas so it really was a gift for the both of us. He liked what I had gotten for him and has had little time when his nose wasn't buried in the Spiderman collection books I got him.

When we went out earlier this evening I had another surprise for him as I pulled the van into the very large and very empty parking lot of the local high school and told him to try driving. His eyes bugged out and he said, "What? The van?!" He did pretty well, actually. We started off slow giving him a chance to feel the sensitivity of the accelerator and brakes. Then he slowly took a turn or two. Eventually, we ended up doing four laps around the lot. His confidence quickly overtook his nervousness. It's a start. He's got two and half years before he can do this legally on a street but by the time he gets there he should be pretty well polished.

My driver's training is a bit of a blur. It was with at the hands of John Venditto, a science teacher and football coach who taught driver's ed on the side. I think I got my habit of yelling at other driver's from him. Each lesson was peppered with him screaming "Hey, the damn kid's learning! Give him a break, ya' jerk!" or "Jesus, lady, you could turn a damned tractor trailer around in this parking lot; just park the stupid car!"

The other enduring memory of my first days driving was the first time my mother let me drive. I was so nervous my hands were clenched around the wheel at exactly "ten and two". As I stiffly turned the wheel while keeping my elbows locked in position she would say, "It's not a snake, it isn't going to bite you; you don't have to hold the damned wheel so tight!"

The very first thing I did with my car was to take a girl parking! Her name was Colleen. I had my new license, still warm from the laminating machine at the DMV and had permission to take the car out solo. I went to Colleen's and in full teenage testosterone mode picked my girlfriend up for the very first time. I don't remember how long we were gone (or more importantly, how far I got) but I do remember being in trouble for being gone so long. But I had just gone parking for the first time and there was no punishment my mother could have given me that would have taken away from that moment.