Driving Me Crazy

A Father & Son Moment-Nice.
Max is fifteen and enrolled in driver's education classes, and we all know what that means. It's driver's permit time. His Dad is taking him this morning since Max doesn't have school today.

Wait! Before this all sounds easy, exciting and fun, let me clue you in on this rite of passage. Max's brothers, Dan and Sam also went for important licensing and tests with their Dad to the DMV. After Hubby asked them repeatedly if they had all their paperwork, if they had studied adequately etc., both boys messed up. Hey, they are kids. Hey, Hubby is right in that he did ask them repeatedly if they were ready. There were some forgotten pieces of paper and some dogging of tests. Both had very tense, crabby rides back home with their Dad. Minor mess-ups unless you are the parent that has driven 20+ minutes, taken a number and waited, and waited and waited to be called to the counter. The DMV is not a fun place, so their Dad prefers to keep the visits to a minimum.

Sadly for Sam, he had a doozey, actually two, one was his bust, he gamed instead of studying. The second one was not Sam's fault. It involved a cranky employee, a refusal to license, a tense ride home, me on the phone to Olympia for an hour where the officials agreed Sam should have his license, a drive back to the DMV later that afternoon and Sam missing an entire day of school. Hubby was a tad miffed with the DMV employee who was rude and unreasonable. Rightly so. But at this point Hubby and Mr. Tuna (fictional name) aren't exactly BFF. This time I went in with Sam and told Hubby to wait in the van. Not to show his face after the morning incident with our favorite guy at the DVM, Mr. Tuna, but to sTaY in the car! Sam and I went in, Mr Tuna challenged me and I urged him to try the computer. I was saccharine sweet. Sam got the license, end of story.

At this point I decided when the time came for Max to get his license I would take him to the DMV. To spare him the experience of 'Dad and the DVM'. Max is my BaBy, so I try to shelter him a bit.

But NOooooo. Dan and Sam had no use for me trying to spare everyone anguish, Max MUST have the experience. The rite of passage. The screw up, the tense ride home, the whole uncomfortable thing. So, off they go today. While looking for a pic for this post I came across this one, Hubby and Max are oblivious and happy, but That Sam I Am in the background is probably looking ahead to this very day.

I'm bettin' Max won't mess up...
***Edited to Add: Max has successfully obtained the permit, he did well and they had a fun time, even had lunch out at Coconut Kenny's. YAY!