From teaching his daughter how to ride a bike to watching her hop in the driver’s seat of a car, Willie Geist is getting nostalgic at the milestones Lucie is achieving.
Willie shared with Jenna Bush Hager how his 16-year-old daughter got her driver’s license and how emotional it was to see her drive away for the first time.
“She’s a good kid with a driver’s license now,” Willie said. “She just got her driver’s license. That’s a big moment as many of you parents out there know.”
Willie called Lucie a “good” and “responsible” driver, adding that he’s not scared for her to be on the road “because I know her, and I know how careful she is and conscientious.”
Lucie is Willie and his wife Christina‘s oldest child. They are also parents to son George.
A proud dad, Willie shared that the hardest part was “the act of watching her drive away for the first time, whoa.”
He told Jenna that he and Christina picked up Lucie at school in two cars to tell her that she passed her test. Lucie was then able to drive herself in her own car, which made Willie “emo.”
“She pulled away. she’s driving in front of me and Christina and it was a little emo,” he said. “The first thought I had was, I taught her how to ride a bike in Riverside Park in New York, you stand behind her, you hold the seat.”
“And you watch her kind of go away on her own,” he continues. “And she turns back and goes, ‘Oh, Dad’s not holding the seat anymore, I did it.’ And I had the same feeling.”
Willie is happy for Lucie now that she’s a driving teenager but knows that “it’s a moment” in parenting and Lucie’s life. He also noted that Lucie is a good parallel parker, thanks to his own skills of being “one of the five best parallel parkers in America,” he joked.
Back in 2022, Willie had first shared with Hoda Kotb that he was just barely teaching then-15-year-old Lucie how to drive. At that time, he also got emotional thinking about bringing her home after she was born.
“She’s 15 and we went driving for the first time, and I remember looking at her, she’s got the seat belt on, and all of a sudden she’s in that seat and I’m in this seat,” he said. “And about five minutes ago, she was in the backseat in her car seat when we were bringing her home from the hospital.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Amanda Smith is a dedicated U.S. correspondent with a passion for uncovering the stories that shape the nation. With a background in political science, she provides in-depth analysis and insightful commentary on domestic affairs, ensuring readers are well-informed about the latest developments across the United States.
