Lucione the....Driver?!

Lucione spent the night with us last night. She had been out of town for about a week and after being homesick and bored out of her mind, she was very excited to be back home.

My home has always been a 2nd home to her. She spends just about much time here as she does at home. Some days, even more.

We live smack dab in the middle of town so it's easier for her to check in with me than to run all the way home. She checks in with me and I relay the message to her mother.

So, anyway, she spent the night. Michael and I are in the habit of taking a nightly drive just to get (me) out of the house and enjoy the scenery. Lucione is 13...she's got the itch to drive so we gave her a chance last night. Now mind you, I'm 5'6", not very tall and she's shorter than I am. We have a huge Ford 250 Crew Cab. She's used to driving her mothers little car.

I tried to jump out of the front seat and let Uncle be the coach but he wouldn't have it. He jumped in the back before I could even reach for the door handle. We were out on the runway (there used to be an airport here but it moved to Town when I was small) so we had plenty of room. She started off barely going 10mph but it didn't take long for her confidence to kick in and soon she was pushing 30mph. I kept saying, "Lay off the gas, Lead Foot!" She'd get all embarrassed and slow down. Then she'd get into the music and next thing you know, we're moving fast again. I told her that when she finally does get her license there is no way she's getting me in the car with her. If she drives 30 when she doesn't know what she's doing, I don't wanna know how fast she'll go once they let her free on the roads.

A couple of cars passed and I joked, "You better look 16 in case that' s a cop car!" She sat up as straight as she could. Funny thing was, her younger sister reacted the same way when I said that to her. Another car came and I recognized it as her mom. Michael frantically waved out the back window so she'd notice he wasn't the driver. She stopped immediately and just looked, jaw hanging in disbelief. Next thing we knew, her car turned like it was following us. When it stopped we turned around to see what she was waiting for.

Turned out that she had Lindsey with her and once she saw Lucione driving, SHE had to drive. So there we were, Lucione driving our truck, and Lindsey driving her mom's car. They did a few laps up and down the runway; always in opposite directions and always waving and yelling "I love you more!" back and forth at each other.

Once they had enough, Uncle took over again and as we were heading home, Lucione said, "You have to be 14 to get a Learner's Permit. I can't wait!"

That's a short 10 months away. *gulp*