“Oh Grandma, thank you so much for the dinner tonight.” said Tiffany. “Ya, thanks so much! It was so good!” said Amy. As my little brother McKay and I started to walk out the door, my Grandma stopped us and said, “You two come back here and give me a hug.” McKay and I did as we were told, and ran back to give her a hug. We were finally done saying our good byes for the night, and were off for our ten minute drive home from American Fork to Alpine. From the front door of my grandma’s house to the car seemed a mile long. Not to mention the freezing cold temperature made it twice as bad. As we were approaching the car I asked, “Mom, could I please drive home tonight?” I was now fifteen and a half, and have hardly gotten to drive anywhere. I needed more practice before my driving test. I thought that this would be a perfect opportunity. My mom replied with, “The roads are still very icy and slick from the snow storm last night, and I just don’t think it would be a good idea for you to drive home tonight. Lets just let Dad drive tonight, and you can maybe drive next time.” “But Mom!”, I replied. “Its not that big of a deal if I drive, and I know I will do good. Its not like I’m going to crash!” “Brittany, you never know what will happen, and I would rather not risk it. Besides, if it’s not a big deal why do you have to drive home so bad?”, my mom asked. I didn’t like that answer, so I tried to make them change their minds.

My argument was that it was only a ten minute drive, and my birthday is in February; and I can bet you that their will be snow and ice in February, so I needed to get some practice. My mom disagreed and said, “There will be plenty more opportunities for you to drive, but I prefer to have Dad drive home tonight.” As me frustration grew on the inside, it also started to show on the outside.

After debating back and forth; in the freezing cold, about whether I should drive home or not, I could tell that my parents weren’t going to budge. I was so angry because I really wanted to drive home. I felt like gum on the bottom of a shoe. It seemed as if I was never going to get the opportunity to drive, and that my parents didn’t care about anything that I wanted. I finally got in the back seat of the car, and pouted the whole way home. I sat there silent, looking out the window with glaring eyes on my face. Every place and house we passed I stared at, wishing I was there; anywhere except here in my car. The short ten minute drive home seemed like a life time. While sitting there, and pondering about what just happened, I started to regret what I had done. I started to feel like I could have handled the situation better, and not have made such a big deal about everything. As my heart started to pound, and tears rolled down my face, I realized that mistake I had made.

Later that night I was laying on my bed, thinking about what had happened. Then my mom came in and wanted to talk. She asked, “Why are you so angry?” I said, “I really wanted to drive home, and I was frustrated that you wouldn’t let me.” She said, “If you would have just listened to me the first time, and let dad drive home, we could have avoided this whole problem. And you would have been able to drive next time, but since you disobeyed, and didn’t listen you got punished and won’t get to drive next time we go to grandmas house.

Through this experience I learned that I was being stubborn, and I wasn’t willing to listen to anyone else. All I cared about was getting what I wanted, but I wasn’t thinking of the good for others. Also we need to listen to your parents. And when we listen and obey the first time good things will come from our good actions, but if you argue and disobey you will be punished and won’t be able to do the things that you want in the long run. It is always better to listen the first time, even if it doesn’t seem like it.