During the first major snowfall after I turned sixteen, my father gave me the keys to the car and said, “Go find an empty parking lot and learn how to drive in the snow.”

I knew the concepts from driver’s school, but I had never experienced the real thing.

Sure enough, spinning around for thirty minutes taught me plenty about how to maneuver the vehicle in slippery conditions. It was fun, too.

* * *

Find the snowy parking lots in life. Go where you can learn and play without causing any real damage. And don’t just go slow: purposely find the edge of control so you know what to do when things start to go sideways.

Because sometimes we have to leave dry pavement to learn valuable lessons.