Driving Miss C

My husband and I were surprised yesterday afternoon when we got home from grocery shopping.... our young Miss C drove up in front of our home-- C was driving, with her mom in the passenger seat. My husband was out in the driveway and heard C honk the horn.... he came in to get me and told me to keep my eyes closed as he led me down our driveway. When he told me to open my eyes, they filled up with tears as I saw C behind the wheel of the car.

So exciting for her........ she was so happy to show me her learner's permit, and so proud that she passed the written test, and just so thrilled to be behind the wheel. I gave her such a big hug that my eyes puddled up with tears again. Not only were we both so proud of her, but to think that she drove straight over to our house on her first "real" driving lesson was so nice of her.

I was happy that her mom took C out for driving lessons before me.... I was worried about that, because we're always careful not to over-step our bounds with C. Although we love her as our own, we always keep in mind that we're not her parents, and we wouldn't ever want to do anything that would hurt her parents' feelings. C's dad is off working now, and I'm sure he'll be taking her out driving when he gets back home.

Before C drove off with her mom, I told her to remember not to pick up any hitch-hikers. Without missing a beat, she asked me "But what if Barry Manilow is hitchhiking?" I told her that if she ever sees Barry walking along the side of a road, she should pick him up and drive him straight to my house. "Sounds like a plan!" said C. (I swear, how could anyone not love this child?)


We haven't done anything further on the blue lake-front house. We're just sitting tight, and I suggested to my husband that maybe we should drive up there again to look it over even more thoroughly before we make another bid on it. I still believe that our second offer should be lower than the first, given the water levels on that part of the lake. Being that this would be a second home, a weekend getaway, we weren't planning on spending quite that much anyway.

While I was on the phone with my sister last night, telling her more about the blue house, my husband was searching the Internet for even more homes. He found another lake, a smaller one, in Magnolia-- that's the town that we evacuated to during last year's Hurricane Rita. We didn't realize that there was a lake there....... we obviously didn't have time to tour the town while we were up there and we haven't been there since.

So we might just take a drive there.... my husband found more than a few lake-front homes in Magnolia to look at, all priced much less than the big blue house at Lake Livingston. A lower price on the house would mean lower taxes and less money for insurance.

My sister wanted to know if all of this weekend-home hunting is giving me a headache or more gray hairs. My answer was that I don't have a headache, and I haven't counted my gray hairs lately, but this quest for a serene little getaway-home is surely wreaking havoc with my sleep. And speaking of gray hairs... I've stopped high-lighting my hair and the gray hairs that are there are much more attractive than the auburn highlights that were costing me time and money.