I should have been out meeting clients, persuading them to take out advertising and how it is the best thing for them.  I should have been updating the web site and adding items to the online calendar but instead of which I have been sitting looking at the computer flitting through different windows in a very manly way.  Not able to concentrate on any one program.  I have read a few e-mails and then re-read them as I did not take in what they were saying first time.

My stomach has been turning somersaults as I wait for the phone to ring, but it has taken such an eternity to ring.    I have made so many cups of tea and then not drunk them as I watch the phone, checking it can still receive calls, checking I have turned it up as loud as possible just in case I put it down somewhere I cannot quite reach when it does call.  The longer the phone call doesn’t come the worse I feel.  Negativity begins to attack the edges of my reason, maybe it will be bad news, maybe it didn’t go the way I wanted. What if….

The phone did try and ring but I answered before any noise came out.  Breathless with excitement, daring not to sound over enthusiastic especially if the news was not good.  Eventually No 1 Son managed one word.

“Passed”

I remember the excitement Sexy Sporty Dad and I had as we watched the then 9 month old No 1 Son take his first unbelievable steps and the freedom suddenly that entered his world.  That was nearly 17 years ago.  Now I have to ring Sexy Sporty Dad and tell him I have just had a call from the happiest boy on this planet.

No 1 Son has passed his driving test.

He will go on and take his AS levels in just a few weeks from now and then hopefully on to A2.  No exam he will take will give him the freedom that he will now have open to him.  He will be able to get himself to work, another pass he has just heard about.   He will be working at a restaurant occasionally when they have functions through the summer which will bring him some long overdue cash;  I wonder if I will see back any of the money I spent on  those driving lessons.  He will be able to drive himself to rugby training and home without one of us turning out on a cold winter’s night.   He may even be able to drop a girl-friend home if one ever appears on the horizon.  I am not sure my car will have the pulling power to get the girl but at least he will be able to drive her on their date.

I can see battles ahead over the use of my car, the cost of petrol and the mess inside but tonight we will celebrate and savour every moment with him.

I guess I need to calm down, finish my cup of cool tea and get back to work.  My stomach is still a flutter but with butterflies for the future not knots about the present.   I feel lightheaded with emotion and the realisation that the tiny remembered creature learning to walk is, in just a blink of an eye, now nearly a grown man driving on the streets of this country.    Where did that time go?

Keys to freedom

A special thanks to his lovely driving instructor Andy (Andy’s School of Motoring  01747 824460) who has sat beside him, guided him, advised him and got him this far.  Now he is on his own and will learn, like we all have through experience.

As if waiting on his news was not bad enough.  He has now arrived home and my car has been taken out for a spin.   Am I going to feel this nervous every time he goes out?

Tiggy

Check out my cooking blog at Teatime Treats with Tiggy