Sep11

At the DMV again

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At the DMV again

Allow me to take you back in time two weeks to my daughter’s and my lovely visit, as they all are, to the DMV. (In case you’re new here, I get a little sarcasticy. I also make up words.)

Daughter’s driving test appointment was at 1:00. We got there around 12:30 and were able to check in right away, but there was a long line of testers ahead of us. We waited on the floor inside for quite a while. Finally, we joined a long line of cars waiting outside. It was 85 degrees, so we kept the van running with the A/C on for who knows how long? An hour? Time has no meaning in those situations.

Also with us was my 8-year-old son, missing school because he hadn’t been feeling well. Like all boys his age, he was quite placid, sitting patiently in the backseat, tapping his knees, humming pleasantly. (Sarcasticy again.)

I turned on the radio to try to calm him. He used the opportunity to “sing along” by saying, “I’m booooreeeeddd” repeatedly in time to the tune. Great stuff! (Yep. You’re getting it now. Sarcasm.)

Finally, it was Daughter’s turn for the drive test with “David,” if that’s even his REAL NAME, so Son and I “relaxed” on an outdoor bench in the shade.

Another mom whose daughter was in line behind us eventually joined us.

“This is nerve-wracking, isn’t it?” I said to her.

“Yes, and this is my daughter’s second try.”

“Oh gosh. I hope she passes,” I said, meanwhile, thinking smugly that SURELY my daughter will pass on the FIRST try.

You may recall the rest. I drove us home after she missed 16 points out of the allowed 15.

This morning we were back

Her appointment was at 8:40. According to Google, the DMV opened at 8. We walked in at 7:59 and the place was bumpin’ (young people slang I picked up from HRH). The first employee we encountered said, “Driving test?” I nodded. “Window 20,” she said with a smile.

It’s cute that she knew.

We got to the appropriate window and there was the Woman With Attitude (WWA).

She asked when our appointment was. When I answered, she said, “Normally, we would tell you you’re too early [not an issue last time!] and make you wait, but since there’s no one here…”

I tried to make a mild joke. She ignored me.

We drove around to where, this time, there was only one car ahead of us, not eight. The heat not an issue, we turned the car off and chilled. Daughter read a book, seemingly without a care in the world.

I tried to figure out how to keep my nerves from exploding.

I was hoping maybe we’d get a female tester this time, perhaps a mom herself, someone sweet and sensitive. The car ahead of us got some dude. We were next, and out walked no-nonsense WWA.

Ah, crap.

Without even looking, she told me to exit. “David” had been nicer to me. This woman acted like she hates her job, her life, her choice in men, what she ate for breakfast, and probably her own mother. [I’m exaggerating for entertainment purposes. She wasn’t that bad.]

I left promptly and sat on the same stone bench as before. I had brought a book with me, but hahahahaha! Like I could focus on a BOOK. I texted friends (yes, mainly you, HRH) to distract myself.

The last time, when Daughter returned and parked, David was talking to her for a while in the van before he left. Then she stepped out and shook her head at me.

At that time, I looked at the woman waiting for her own daughter, expecting some commiseration, but she, perhaps politely, pretended not to notice.

This time, WWA was talking in the van for quite some time. I feared Daughter was being lectured sternly.

WWA left. I stepped closer. Daughter stepped out and….

Smiled!

Huzzah!

She only missed four points!

We went inside, got our new paperwork, and left. As Daughter was driving us out, guess who I saw sitting on the stone bench?

The same woman who was waiting for her daughter to take her test the second time. Apparently, she hadn’t passed then either. I sure hope the third time’s the charm. (Also, what are the odds?!)

Youngest Daughter’s Audition

Remember my daughter had said her high school audition had gone, “Okay”? The play is Anne of Green Gables. If you’re not familiar, Anne Shirley, the title character, is a skinny red-haired girl born in March who isn’t fond of Geometry.

Essentially, she IS my daughter.

Youngest Daughter was asked to read for two of the main characters, Anne-with-an-e (If you know, you know) and Marilla, Anne’s adoptive mother.

Daughter told me she had flubbed a few lines and so was uncertain what would happen.

That Labor Day weekend, she must have asked me five times a day if I had gotten an email with the cast list yet, and said probably six times a day, “I wonder when the cast list will come out.”

Hubby didn’t want to bother his colleague, the drama teacher, but finally it got so bad, he texted her. The response was, “Later tonight.”

Let the pacing continue!

Ultimately, it was an email from a friend that alerted her. She rushed to my computer. I pulled it up…

Right on top:

Anne Shirley: Ilsa’s Daughter

Man, that kid was stoked! Then, for the next few days it was, “I can’t believe it!”

We all could believe it. Normally, the big roles go to seniors, not sophomores, but this kid’s on fire.

Remember the week from hell when I was subbing? I saw the drama teacher in the lounge and said, “Soooo….. your next production…. are you thinking…. maybe…. your lead actress won’t need to wear a wig???”

She shook her head. “Oh. No. That’s part of the reason I chose this play.” Then she smiled as she pushed her way backwards through the door and out.

The other teachers in the room lunged for their sunglasses because I was beaming so brightly.

But this encounter was prior to the audition. Maybe those flubs were more major than I knew, so I kept my mouth shut for days.

Yet, she landed the lead. This child of mine… I feel like she must’ve been adopted.

The 1985 movie cover

My daughter braided her hair in pigtails for school the next day.

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62 responses »

  4. What good stories.

    Point of information: As an author, you are a certified neologist. That means you can ‘make up’ words at your pleasure. Others aren’t allowed to do this. You are. So ‘sarcasticy’ is an acceptable word

    Liked by 1 person

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  5. Ahh, sarcasticy. I dig it. You and I were both on fire today with our fake words, weren’t we?

    Congrats to your daughter! I think you should wear pigtails in a show of solitude. And post them here for us all to see, of course.

    (Not first today, but fourth. I’ll take it!)

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  9. Congrats!!! Now that D1 has a permit, will she be chauffeuring you around? Or will that be too nerve wracking for you?

    AND HURRAY FOR ANNE WITH AN E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I grew up on that movie, and the sequel, and when I read the book later in my mid 30’s it was even better than the movie. I think I should add it to the re-read list and enjoy the magic again.

    And finally, booooo to the grumpy dmv lady, even if she passed your daughter. If someone hates their job that much (and I can imagine hating working at the dmv a LOT), wouldn’t it just make sense to go elsewhere? I guess I’m lucky that I don’t hate my job?

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    • So this was for the actual license. She HAS been chauffeuring me around (that’s a tough word to spell) since I broke my foot months ago. (All healed now. Did I ever mention that?) Now she can drive WITHOUT me, which is maybe just as nerve wracking as with me, TBH.

      Yes, Anne with an e, baby!!!!! You get it!! Of course you get it, Booky! When the play was announced, the drama teacher told her to read the book. Fortunately, I have a box set of all of them. She finished, so we watched the first movie. I also own the second and have for yeeeeeaaaaarrrrsss. Not sure why they haven’t read nor seen those already. And, the books are always better than the movie, with one exception: The original Jurassic Park. Though I missed the tense aviary scene from the book, the movie did a fantastic job, I thought.

      I wonder if the DMV has a high turn-over rate. There was a nice plump woman with glasses who helped us out at the end, and she was quite pleasant. So, who knows?

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      • Ohhhh, the BIG step. I did not realize she’d already been driving you around (I had to use spell check last time I used “chauffeured”, hahahha). Now she can go out and do all those things teens in slasher movies do right before they get axed! No wonder you’re nervous 😉

        I wondered, briefly, about watching that new adaptation, but since it was a “subscriber only” thing (for whatever streaming service), I wasn’t going to shell out money. Funny thing about the books, I only enjoyed the first one. I tried a later one about Rilla and while I didn’t detest it, it was close 😀

        And I agree with your assessment of JP. That movie was just pure awesome sauce every way you look at it. I had a box set on dvd and when I upgraded to bluray, I only bought the original. I don’t like the sequels at all and I think I’m done with the book too.

        I’d get fired from the dmv, or taken to jail, in about 30min. The few times I’ve gone in to get my license renewed, I saw the garbage they had to put up with 😦

        And to end, I do hope you keep us apprised of further developments in the play department. I for one would be interested in how it all goes. Because I sense drama 😉

        Liked by 1 person

      • I refuse to watch the new adaptation. I had heard some unsavory things about it, for one, and two, nobody should dare sully the perfection of the originals!

        I’m not sure if I’ve read past the first book, of either series we mention, which makes me feel like a fraud. But after reading your critique, maybe I don’t feel so bad about it now.

        It takes a special kind of person to work at the DMV, for sure. I don’t think I have the patience.

        And, oh my gosh. So much work put into that “drama” set up. Wow. I’m giving you the slow clap for that one. Wuah-wa-wa!

        Like

  11. My wife is a big fan of “Anne of Green Gables”. If there’s been a movie version, we seen it, owned it and memorized all the lines. We’ve even read the books, I mean all the books, the whole series of them. I’ve even been asked to look up vacation destinations on Prince Edward Island. It comes up most times we talk about taking a vacation (although now that I’m retired, vacation is a weird concept).

    and not to brag too much, but I passed my driving test the first time … mostly because I think the examiner feared I’d keep coming back if he failed me. I’m still disappointed that they didn’t test my parallel parking skills (which they did back then in the last century, just after we stopped riding horses) — I’d been practicing that for weeks. Maybe that was a good thing, I still can’t parallel park without a fair amount of tires hitting curbs and an impressive vocabulary of four letter words.

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  16. wow, almost too much goodness to take in, but we’ll take it! congrats and thank you to the universe for conspiring to make everything happen just right and fall into place! well done, all! it takes a village and a half!

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  17. Oh the stress of watching your kids take their drivers test!!! it’s crazy. And yes, you need to send us, your readers, the DMV address. We need to have a talk with WWA. Ha, ha. I’m with you. Yes, the test is important. And yes, you need to take it seriously. But break the tension for the parents and kids a little . . . there’s already stress, you don’t need to add to it by being mean. Ugh. Anyway congrats on the good news.

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  20. It’s great to read about a kid getting their driver’s license ASAP because rumor has it her generation doesn’t care so much about driver’s licenses anymore because… because… because WHY? They don’t want to drive? They have no interest in freedom? They have nowhere to go? I don’t get it. At your daughter’s age I was chomping at the bit for that first chance to drive away from the house on my own. I hope your daughter feels the same way. At the least, you now have someone who can run your errands so you can do more important things 🙂

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    • Right? I’ve been hearing about that too. Such a lack of get up and go in this generation. Maybe because, for far too many, their whole world is in their phone. And yes, I look forward to making her do my bidding, err, shopping. 😉

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