Lessons from My Back Seat Driver

Walk What You Talk is my motto. I am called into accountability so many times for this motto. It happened over the weekend. Paul and I have had this fun thing over the years when we are driving separate cars. We usually meet up at some stop light and try to see who can be the first one to get home. Some wonder where our daughter gets her silent want to win from. She comes by it naturally...

We got to the last light and Paul rolled down his window and was trying to talk to me. I couldn't hear what he was saying very well, but much to my chagrin he is trying to tell me that our friends are in front of him. The light turns green and I "clear my tail pipe out" as Dylan so often says. I love the sound of my engine, it's the sweet sound of victory. I feel so proud, until I hear the phone ring. It is the sound of my infinitely confident husband delivering a message to me that I have indeed won the contest. However, my losing opponent is our dear friends. The entire family is in the car behind me staring at my license plate screaming that we attend the same school as their daughter.

All night I see the finger of my daughter waving at me in glaring shame and I hear the voice from the back seat of my car, so proud of his mama's victory. It then dawns on me, as I am restless trying to fall asleep that in less than a year I will have a driving daughter. I will see her friends pulling in and out of our subdivision. How can I ask my daughter not to do the things that she has witnessed me do behind the wheel of the car where she is sitting in the back seat? All of us parents are deemed guilty by our offsprings. We ask them to restrain from doing certain things, or talking a certain way or asking them to do things that they don't see us doing. It is very true that our actions speak louder than words. Do what I say, not as I do. Unfortunately, our kids watch our every deed and hear all of our words. There is no fooling them. If we are not careful, they will grow up and follow in our footsteps.

So looking back on that cool Saturday night, I sadly hung up my racing jacket in hopes that in the next year, I will be a better role model for the next generation of drivers and will teach my kids that winning is not a sweet endeavor if you are putting someone you love in jeopardy, whether it is in our own car, or someone sitting next to us.

 Are we living a life worthy of someone else repeating? That is the question I daily ask myself.