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Louise Erdrich
Turn Signals

Three of my four daughters were born in the dead of winter. One made it to early spring only because she was overdue. So, for me, the shortest days of the year and the deepest cold are a backdrop to the perilous stories of birth and the radiant exhaustion of new motherhood. Now that my three oldest daughters are in their teens, I can add driving to the pleasures and dangers of having children with winter birthdays.

Because the oldest two both took the driver’s test the day after their sixteenth birthdays, much of the practice driving--with learner’s permits, and me riding as the requisite adult passenger--took place on those slush-ridden, black-iced, snowbound, or low-visibility Minnesota mornings as we made our way harrowingly to school. The rite of passage was conducted on the bitterly cold asphalt of the Golden Valley driver’s course. Both daughters passed the test by one point on their first try--a result recounted with pride and excitement to a mother who could react only with a terrified gulp…

Excerpted from I Wanna Be Sedated: 30 Writers on Parenting Teenagers
Copyright 2003 by Louise Erdrich