.... Son #3 passed his driving test today!!! In fact, he not only passed it ..... he ACED it!
So ..... I have made it.
All 6 of them are now drivers.
In spite of ...... well, for those of you who've driven with your newish drivers ..... you know how it goes. You know how hard you grip that handle on the passenger door. You know how your foot almost pushes through the floor on that imaginary brake on the passenger side.
You know.
One would think that going to get a driver's license would be a cut and dry event, right? I mean, you go there, you wait in line, you take the test and you either fail or pass.
But leave it to me to have a saga and not a cut and dry event.
Pour yourself a drink and sit down and join me in my saga.
Son #3 and I got up at 6:00 this morning so we could drive to another county to go to a different DPS than ours. The one in our county is horrendous. It is an example of all things wrong with government jobs (well, there and our local post office).
It takes .... on average ...... 4 hours to just renew your license.
On a good day.
Seriously.
So I'd been told about another DPS about 45 minutes away that has had rave reviews. So we planned to go there.
We left the house at 6:45 and began our journey.
We were driving Son #1's car, since it's a mid-sized car and is easy to drive. I have an SUV and didn't want Son #3 to have to use it for the test.
About half way into our trip ..... yes, half way ..... I noticed that the inspection sticker said 8/10.
Yep ..... it was over due.
I may have called Son #1 a few names at that point, since he failed to have it inspected before he left (which he had PLENTY of time to accomplish).
I weighed my options: go on to the DPS and face a certain ticket for the overdue inspection ..... and take the chance that the driving tester (for lack of a better name) would not let Son #3 take the test in that car;
go back home and attempt this another day .... which wouldn't happen until at least 2 weeks from now since I'm heading to Spain to
I chose the last option.
It seems that I chose wrongly.
Of course.
We drove around trying to locate an inspection station but just wasted time. I finally stopped at a store and went in to ask the kind young(ish) men in there where the closest station was. They told me the location and so we went there straightaway.
It was closed.
But ..... I could see that 2 men were in the back by the garage bays, smoking cigarettes and shooting the breeze.
So I drove back there and asked them what time they opened, as sweetly as I could.
They told me 8.
It was 7:45 and the clock was still ticking.
I said OK and proceeded to park the car, hoping that they would feel sorry for me, given that I had spoken so sweetly to them.
And ..... one of the men threw down his cigarette and approached the car. Yay!
He looked into the window and asked what we needed.
I said that we needed an inspection ..... again, as sweetly as I could.
I'm guessing that it wasn't sweet enough.
He said, "OK, drive around and park in the front, leave your insurance papers in the car as well as the key and WHEN WE OPEN THE DOORS (emphasis mine) we'll get to it."
Really.
And so we did.
And we waited.
And finally they opened their doors, but not a minute before 8:00 (also the opening time of the DPS).
We got out of the car and the man came over, looked at my inspection sticker and said (read this with a really hick accent to get the full effect), "Well, I'm sorry ma'am but I can't do your inspection. Your car isn't registered in this here county. Your county requires emissions testing and ours don't. You'll have to get it done in your county."
A moment of stunned silence followed.
And then I collected myself, said thank you, got back in the car and headed toward the DPS, knowing that I would now get a ticket ..... and still might not be able to have S3 take the test.
But ..... a mother is a mother and we will go through hell and back (or just a different county) to help our children.
We arrived at the DPS at 8:20. We waited about 15 minutes (a HUGE miracle in itself), filled out the paper work, got S3's fingerprints and picture taken, paid the fee and then heard that he would have a 10:15 appointment.
Again ..... a brief moment of silence while I pondered what the heck we would do for the next two hours.
And then the light bulb above me head lit up (really .... it's pretty cool).
We got back into the car and then I drove like a bat out of hell (although I was also a careful bat) back to our county where we got the car inspected. Then I drove back to the DPS county like a bat again and made it ..... with 15 minutes to spare.
What. A. Relief.
We parked the car and I turned it over to S3 so that he could adjust the various mirrors and seat and whatever else needed to be done.
Then I saw a chair outside and went to sit down in it and update my Facebook status for the umpteenth time that morning.
The woman came out of the building and went over to our car. I listened to her while she gave S3 various instructions like turn on the right blinker, honk the horn, push on the brakes and various other seemingly-moronic simple instructions.
I didn't look up because I didn't want him to see me and then get nervous.
Then the woman got into the car and thus began the PARALLEL PARKING. I couldn't help myself. I hid behind a pole as best as I could and I peeked around the corner and watched. And oh my gosh .... he nailed it!!! In only one attempt! I was SO proud of him that I wanted to do a little cheer there, but I figured that would require an entire chapter in his future "Mommy Dearest" book ..... so I refrained.
He then drove off and I again updated my FB.
About 10 minutes later they pulled up next to where I was sitting and got out of the car. I was on the phone talking to my mom when he got out and flashed me the "thumbs up" sign! I was thrilled. My mom was thrilled. Some woman who was walking out of the DPS was thrilled.
It was a thrilling moment.
So he did it.
Yay for him.
Yay for me.
Yay for us.
And yay for a good end to yet another saga.
So the trip to the other county was, all in all, a much better choice than waiting all day at our local DPS.
I just have one question: after 19 years and 5 other children ...... WHY did I JUST find out about this??!
Happy Wednesday, Peeps.
:)
P.S. Daughter #3 still needs a lot of help to reach her goal for her charity run. Please take a look at her web site .... http://pages.teamintraining.org/sctx/nikesf10/leggers .... and consider donating to a great cause.
Thanks, Peeps ..... from her and from me.
:)
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