Kevin Bendemire shares how much he appreciates bonding with his daughter on her way to school.
Growing up in rural Washington often left me bored. Annoying my brother became a treasured pastime. To limit this, my dad would load us in the car for drives in the country. I never understood the point of these drives. There was no stated destination or predetermined route, as much as I could tell. It wasn’t until recently though that I understood another benefit of these trips after having moved to the Bay Area.
A few years ago, my wife and I made the difficult decision to send our daughter to a school 30 minutes from home. I’d be lying if I said this felt like anything other than another chore, a sacrifice for our daughter. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Driving my daughter through Bay Area gridlock may not offer the idyllic beauty of the Washington countryside. What it does give me though, is time.
Precious one-on-one time with my quickly growing daughter. The years between cradling her as a newborn and watching her stretch for independence as a budding tween feel like a blink. Our car rides though, slow everything down. Through our conversations, I have learned so much about who my daughter is and who she is becoming. We have navigated through concerns about teachers, friends and homework.
She has introduced me to so many of today’s leading pop singers and I have even somewhat successfully sung along with her to a few of their songs. She asks me about the world and we explore issues of fairness, justice and so much more. I encourage her when she’s down and regularly tell her that I love her. This routine has quickly become one of the best parts of my week. Soon, I know our drives together will end.