As my friends often remind me, I still don't have my driver's license.

I've been 16 for more than seven months now, but since I didn't have the time to take the required driver's education class until this past summer, I still have almost five more months before I can legally drive without an adult in the car.

As you get older, there are many ages of your life that are considered milestones.

• 13: Your first year as a teenager
• 16: It is finally possible for you to get your license and cruise around without your parents!
• 17: No curfew, so stay out as late as you want
• 18: Legal adulthood!

Drivers ed starts this week, and so the freedom to drive will be, in time, handed over to me.

But the feeling of liberty is clouded by the feeling of responsibility and fear. Driving is undoubtedly dangerous, something we should all know not only from adults trying to scare us, but from first-hand experience as either a driver or passenger.

Last week I was sure that I was going to die: everywhere I went I kept seeing bad omens!

Driving down an old country road to my piano teacher's house, I was averaging at about 40 mph. OK, I hit 50 mph at times, but that’s still quite an improvement from chugging along a busy road at 15 mph.

On July 14, 2007, at precisely 11:04 p.m., I became 15 years old. And, in Illinois, that meant I was able to take a simple test and receive my driving instruction permit.

Even though my birthday was on a Saturday during the summer, I woke up early to beat the crowds at the DMV in Champaign. I had already taken the required two driver's ed classes at Kenney Gym. I had my birth certificate and a bank statement as proof of residence. And after about 20 minutes, I had my very own permit.