Yesterday I completed a milestone, and yet, I was in the background. The milestone was Charlie going to get his license, but for me it was the last child I would ever have to take to the DMV!
It is such a great place to people watch. There were loads of mothers and the occasional father, with their about to be licensed kids, and we sit on the chairs and wait. We stand in line over and over, then return to our seats to wait. We have a very small purpose -- we have to of course drive with them there; we have to be there to stand in as the "adult," but we're really not all that needed. They take the written test while we sit and wait. Then they too have to wait until their designated driving test time nears, and then the poor parents are discarded once again, we must vacate the car and let a perfect stranger drive off with them. And we wait.
When Hallie went for her license, we drove down to Concord and stood in line (and waited of course) only to discover that we didn't have a heating bill. Yes, that is what I said. We needed to have some proof that she lived in the actual residence that she said she did. They said a heating bill would work. A HEATING BILL! We had to drive home and find some stupid heating bill, and then, because we were so disgusted with Concord, we drove (I actually drove this time because this was no longer fun and games, but serious business, and speed limits could not be adhered to in order to get this job done!) like mad up to Lebanon. Where she had time to put in her written test; but alas, they were closing and she was unable to get her driving test in. OH MY GAWD.
Then we drove back up there the next morning and she FINALLY got her license. I told everyone I knew, don't go to the DMV without your heating bill. Not any of them that I can recall ever had any use for a heating bill. But they had them!
Then Maddie and I went down to Concord, (with a heating bill of course) and she passed her driver's test, only to discover that there were no driving times available that day. But our friendly DMV assistant kept at it, and there was an available time in Manchester. Of course, Maddie didn't want to drive in Manchester (they all have heard stories from friends who have gone to this DMV or that DMV and it is the BEST DMV to go to!) As far as I am concerned, all of my kids were highly ready to get their licenses by the time I brought them to the DMV. I have seen kids who didn't know their right from their left get their license -- I wasn't too worried about their passing. And Concord is the CLOSEST and is far more interesting to people watch than some smaller office. (Though they are all closing due to budget cuts, according to one woman I talked to.)
Anyway, she panicked that she had never driven in Manchester, so we went down and I had her drive what I suspected would be the exact route she would take (and it was) and after several healthy doses of waiting, she finally had her license.
Charlie was the most eager of all of them to get his license. So eager, in fact, that he convinced the driver's ed. teacher to change the date of the class so he could get his license as close to his birthday as possible. He has been driving since he was five-years-old. This is not even an exaggeration -- says the mother who watched her near toddler son drive around and around and around in the driveway why the father said it was fine. Fine! He used to go to to work with Peter and drive around in an old pick-up truck on his back lot by the hour. The kid loves to drive. It was common for there to be regular activity in the driveway on any given day. One car or the other would go by; then the Bobcat would start up and he'd be driving that around; then the Gator, then back to one of the vehicles. I remember Hallie getting so disgusted at the amount of gas he was using driving around in the driveway!
When I climbed out of the car to let the driving guy in, he asked me if I thought Charlie was ready. I told him that he was born ready. Oh really, the man said. I am not even kidding, I said, as I watched as Charlie confidently told the man to climb on in. There was never even the slightest doubt in my mind that he would get his license. Even as we watched, minutes before his own test, a girl not pass and slam into the passenger side of her car and ignore her mother (it is always the mother's fault, is it not?)
The entire experience was probably the easiest out of the three. Walked in, stood in a short line (they never looked at the heating bill, or in this case this time, the tax bill) he did his eye test, then his written, and back in line to find that the next available driving time was 1:40. It was then 12:30 -- time for lunch! We went to lunch, we were back in time; he took his test, he came back in, he got his license. I was in the dressing room at L.L. Bean by 3:00. Easy peasy.
The hardest part is that he has the longest drive of the three. Hallie and Maddie drove literally five minutes down the road to school. If there was bad weather, I drove them. There was a forecast of snow for today (which did not pan out, thank heavens) and Peter was quite insistent that he didn't want Charlie to drive his truck with the bald tires in snow. I thought to myself that it's a tough time to get your license -- right before snow season. Will I ever want him to drive that distance in a lot of snow?
I am still waiting for him to text that he has arrived at school on his maiden voyage -- he drove to the gas station and the store last night, but this is really the first "big" trip on his own. You can tell he is number three because I didn't actually notice the exact time he left -- so I can't really watch the clock and wonder. But he will be fine.
As for me, I am somewhat torn between throwing a huge party or just absorbing this last milestone on my own, quietly. It seems mind blowing that I never HAVE to drive a child to school again. Seriously ... mind blowing. We have been juggling the art of getting Charlie to one school or another (all very far away) since he was in fifth grade. I could climb into my own car right now and not have to be back at a certain time to pick him up! I guess we both picked up a little freedom at the DMV yesterday! Thank Gawd for the heating (tax) bill!
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