Another Silver Lining

Ever since the divorce, the kids and I have taken to finding silver linings in our situations.  I wrote about it in an earlier post, but basically it’s things like “now we can buy the non-chunky spaghetti sauce we like but never got because X liked the chunky” and silly things like that.  We have found a lot of silver linings in the past two years.

I just thought of another one.  My daughter is 15 and is suffering from her second herniated disc.  We are trying a new therapy, but it requires driving an hour away several times a week.  She has her temporary driver’s permit now, so we share the driving. Yes, the time is significant.  Yes, gas is expensive.  Yes, the wear and tear isn’t doing a lot of good on the van that already turned over 198,000…

But the silver lining is a lot of wonderful one-on-one time with my daughter.  We have had a lot of great heart-to-heart talks that just seem easier when you’re driving.  She’s nearly 16, and her independence will begin with that driver’s license.  I am cherishing this time because I think it is a critical time in her life, and I get to impart life lessons that maybe I hadn’t gotten to yet, and share things about me that she may not have discovered otherwise.  We get a chance to go out to eat together and laugh…it’s not just a silver lining, it’s a whole beautiful rainbow after the storm, too!