A few days ago you took me for a drive in our car. Just before you backed out of the garage, you spent a moment adjusting the seat and the mirrors so that it fit you. As you fiddled with the seat control, you probably weren't thinking about the fact that the ride ahead would require an adjustment for me, too.

For 16 years now, I have been the one in the driver's seat. I have racked up hundreds of thousands of miles driving you to music lessons and football, marching band and school. I have driven you to friend's houses and museums, restaurants and recreation. I have always made sure you were strapped in, prepared for whatever we were doing. I have done whatever I could to keep you safe.

Now that you've gotten your permit, you (apparently) are now ready to assume that responsibility for yourself, to literally and figuratively take a new step in navigating your own life. And I want you to know a few things before you take the wheel.

When you were a child, I often asked you to consider "what happens next," before you made decisions. We practiced that thought process over and over and over and over in countless scenarios. I purposely taught you to think ahead so that the voice in your own head would take over for me. It was my plan that when you were making big decisions, you would have your own internal ability to reason things through responsibly.

But right now, it's the little voice in my own head asking "What happens next?" That's because I have lived long enough to hear of, if not know, people who have experienced all the possibilities. And I know that though I will sit beside you as you gain experience driving, eventually you will take off on your own. As much as I worry about you driving, I'm concerned about your friends driving you around, too. Whether you're in the driver's seat, or you are the passenger in a car driven by another teen, I will not be able to protect you from the choices you and your friends make behind the wheel. And no matter how much preparation you've had, I have no guarantee that your reason will prove to be stronger than temptation.