New York's Newest Driver

About a month ago Rebekah and I went to take her road test for her drivers license. It ended up being a fiasco (name issues) and we left with Bek in tears, having not taken the test and me being frustrated that I'd paid a babysitter all morning for the little guys and sat in a line for nothing.

Today was round 2 and I was all set and sure nothing would go wrong. Jacob & Jane have gymnastics on Tuesday mornings, and I had planned to have just enough time afterwards to head to the bike shop to pick up Jake's new bike (which would be ready today), drop off dry cleaning and grab the kids some lunch before getting Rebekah at 1pm. We would then let her practice parallel parking for 30 minutes, drop off Jacob & Jane at a friends and head to her 2pm appointment.

We left gymnastics and I stopped for gas feeling pleased that I had everything ready for the car. I mentally checked off my list - full gas tank, check. No mechanical problems with car, check. Insurance and registration, ch---- WAIT A MINUTE!

We are upgrading the Pilot and purchasing a small second car. While at the Honda dealer on Saturday Rick had got the registration out of the car as part of their assessment of our current car for trade in value. Was it back in there? I looked and it wasn't. Instead of getting the bike or lunch I raced home to look for the registration card. A few frantic calls to Rick, Honda and turning the office upside down proved my worst fear - it was lost. I called the Auto School to check if we really needed it or if they could just look it up or go by the registration sticker in the window. The school told me I had to have it. More calls to Rick (the word "irresponsible" may have been thrown out by me) another call to the Honda dealer - who almost denied ever having seen it, but confessed he did have a copy.

I thought a copy was better than nothing, and we would have to take our chances. We would now need to leave right then to get to the dealer to collect the copy and make her appointment in time. Juliane (my friend who was taking J&J) wasn't home yet, so more frantic calls to several people looking for a place to ditch them (I did stop at the pizza place and grab a couple of slices.) I deposited them on a doorstep with their pizza box (thanks Melanie!) - fortunately across the street from Juliane's, who would be able to take over at the prearranged time.

I texted Rebekah that I was on my way. Then called her. She answered & said she could barely hear me - there had been a fire alarm pulled in the building and they were all outside - she wasn't sure she could leave. ARGHH! I managed to extract her from the fire drill, get over to Honda and pulled up to the testing spot at 1:58pm. Phew.

I say testing "spot" because that's really what it is. I swear, they do things in New York in a way I can never imagine working anywhere else. There is no building, no desk, nothing. There is a sign on a pole by the side of the road. You pull up behind any other cars that are waiting by the sign and the examiners come and get you. They just go down the line getting in & out of the cars & giving the tests. There weren't that many cars, so I was hopeful we wouldn't wait too long. Unfortunately two of the cars were from driving schools and each had 4 people to be tested in them. There were 3 examiners, so after almost an hour they got to us. The guy in front of us was standing beside his car as they approached. I hadn't realized while we were waiting that he was alone. After a brief talk with the examiner he got in his car (clearly mad) and left. I guess he drove himself to his drivers license test, and they sent him on his way (driving home - still without a license!)

Well, all that stress and worrying was for nothing. After checking my drivers license and getting Bek's permit & drivers education certificate, she just used a little hand held device to scan the registration sticker in the window - and they were off. If you know me well you know 2 things (1) I have a thimble sized bladder & (2) I drink copious amounts of fluids. I hurried a few blocks away to a local hospital to find a bathroom & when I returned she was just pulling up.

She looked out of the window and gave me the "two thumbs up" with a big smile. YAY!

I asked the examiner if I could take a picture of them together & she said they weren't allowed to. Bummer. I let Bek drive back to school (she had Cabaret rehearsal). Once we got to school I took a picture of her with her new license (they'll mail the laminated real one later.)

Emily had swim team practice, and her piano lesson and Jacob had T-ball practice. When we all got home, I asked Bek if she would watch the kids once I had them in bed, so I could go pick up Jake's bike I'd never got to. She said "Then can I go for a drive."

I hesitated and replied "Want to go get the bike for me?" So, she did. I took several deep breaths (& called the bike shop after 1/2 an hour to see if she had been there and picked it up.) It's up the parkway and then along a very busy road. She came home with the bike, pleased as punch.

This may work after all.