The hand she was currently playing was getting Daniel moved off to college, and the car ride together was going to get him there. Honestly, the idea of one last road trip with Daniel seemed kind of fun. If nothing else, Amanda thought, all those hours alone together would give them a great opportunity to talk. Real talk. Talk that would help give her a real sense of who he was as he left the nest and started off into the world.
Of course they talked a little while he was living at home, but Daniel was busy with school, and his friends, and then, briefly, that girlfriend, and with his summer job, and packing for college, and all those day-to-day things that seem to take up so much time while life goes on.
Growing up without a dad, and with only girls in the house, hadn’t always been easy for Daniel. There were times when Amanda felt like he had some unresolved anger. When, at 14, he told her he wanted to join a local Mixed Martial Arts club, Amanda stifled her reservations and tried to be supportive. It did seem like the discipline had done him some good.
She was going to miss him, his presence, the easy way he had about him, his easy-going good humor. Daniel was fun. He’d always been fun. Spending time around him made her feel young. She was a little jealous too. Not that she regretted the way things turned out, but Daniel would be getting the college experience she never had, the one she always thought she would have until life’s turns took her in another direction.
So Amanda thought she might as well enjoy this. They could have fun. Yes she was the mom, but she was still young enough to play the fun girl on a road trip with Daniel too. Since she was only 12 years older. Over the years she had sometimes come to think of herself as more like Daniel’s aunt than anything else, not quite a mom, even sometimes more of an older sister. She was only the mom at those times when she had to be.
That was Amanda’s frame of mind when the trip started. She had a few topics she wanted to bring up with him, things she thought could make for a fun and interesting discussion. About 90 minutes into the trip, she opened up with the first one.
“Daniel, how come you never asked me about girls?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“You know, like when you were younger, like in middle school, and wanted to get girls to notice you, or when you wanted to ask a girl to a dance, or even when you were with that girlfriend, Abby. It was Abby, right? I used to be a girl, you know, but you never asked me for advice.”
“It’s different now than it was for you.”
“Maybe in some ways. But it’s not so long ago, you know! Most things are the same I’m sure.”
“No. I mean you weren’t a normal girl.”
“What do you mean I wasn’t a normal girl? Of course I was. I am!”
“I mean you were always like the prettiest, most popular girl in school. You could get any guy you wanted. I don’t exist in that stratosphere. I’m down on Earth with the normal people.”
“That’s not true. I suppose I was popular, yes, but I definitely couldn’t just get any guy I wanted.” But as the words came out of her mouth, she realized there was a kind of a truth in what Daniel said. Apart from a couple of older crushes when she was really young, or pop stars she idolized, there really wasn’t any guy she wanted that she didn’t get until Daniel’s father, David. And then she got him, too.