The Rest of Last Week

Ha. "Thoroughly blogged in the next day or so," she says. Ha. And here we are a week later!
Well then. Here's what else happened...
(WARNING: It's long.)
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Last Friday (9/22) I went to the DMV to test for my driver license.

That was a headache.

I woke up at 5:00 in the morning, in order to be ready to go when Gina Gray came to pick me up at 5:30. Mercies. So early! A girl I know from church was talking about waking up at 5:00. "There's just something so....wrong about waking up and looking at the clock and seeing five, zero, zero. It's like, 'NObody should be up at this hour!' I set my clock an hour ahead, just so I don't have to look at '5:00' when I wake up."
Yeah, that pretty much says it. It just seemed wrong! I mean, it was only an hour earlier than I usually wake up, but seemed sooo much earlier!

Well, Mrs. Gray was running late, so we didn't get out on the road until about 6:00. We stopped at Starbucks, where I got some "breakfast". When we arrived at the DMV (6:30), there was already a group of maybe fifteen people waiting outside the door, as was kind of expected. Even though they don't open till 8:00.
Yeah.

So Come 8:00 the trooper comes out and stands at the door and the line forms. Presently, it was my turn, so I told him what I was there for, and I showed him all the necessary paper, and he handed me some form to fill out. So I took a clipboard and a pen and sat down. While I was writing, I heard the trooper start really yelling, threatening to throw some guy off the property. As it turns out, he was angry because this fella had jumped out of line real quick to get something from his car, and some other people where holding his place in line. "No cutting!" he yelled, "Nobody cuts! Nobody saves places! Is that understood? Now, if you don't get in the BACK of this line right now, I will THROW you off this property! Am I clear?"

Guess who rode shotgun for my test?
*rueful grin*

So I filled out the form, took it to the desk. They told me to take my car to the back of the building, where there was already a line of cars waiting to be tested. So I took Mrs. Gray's car to the back and got in line. Ninth in line. It doesn't seem like a very big line, but it took about 45 minutes before the trooper finally got to my turn. "Right blinker. Left blinker. Brake. Headlights. Wipers. Left blinker. Right blinker." I obeyed. He asked for my proof of insurance, and I handed him the slip of paper Mrs. Gray gave me. He took a look at it and said, "This is insurance for a Mazda. You're driving a Honda." I started to panic a little bit, so he said, "Look in your glovebox for a minute, and I'm gonna check on the next car. It's okay. I'll be back in a second." So I rifled all through the glovebox, muttering "PleaseLordpleaseLordpleeeaaaase let it be here. I can't not get my license today. It's gotta be today ohpleaseohpleaseohplease...." and then I found it. I double-checked for the make/model. It's all good. So the trooper came back and, smiling, I handed him the policy. He looked at it, cocked his head, sighed, and said, "This is for a Honda alright, but it expired in March." I groaned and muttered something about these are the ones she left me....
So what do I do now?
"Go back home, get the right policy, and if I'm not done with these guys here [the twelve or so that were in line], you can come back and I'll test you. If you don't come back soon though, you'll have to start over."
We pulled out at 8:30.

So Mrs. Gray and I started back for her house, and she talked to her husband, who evidently switched the policies by mistake. We left the house, policy in hand, and headed for Alpha Grafix, since this was the only copy of the policy. I waited and knitted in the car while Mrs. Gray went in to make a copy. After what felt like twenty minutes or so, she came back out. It was getting late. I was anxious. She got back in the car and winced, as if bracing herself for a blow, "Ashley, please don't get mad at me." I told her it was okay, I wasn't mad. She said, "You will be in a sec. See, ALL the copiers, save one, were broken, and there was such a line at the one copier!! And so I waited in line for all that time, and then I got to the copier and opened the paper and made the copy, and only THEN did I realize.....[bracing herself again].......I have the wrong paper. I'm so sorry! Please don't be mad!!"
Well, I wasn't mad. Just terribly anxious. So we went BACK to the house to get the "real" right policy. This time I just waited in the car. After a few minutes, Mrs. Gray came out and told me that, if it was alright with me, she had a previous engagement she was skipping to take me, and she just realized that her husband was working at home that day, so he was totally free for the whole day, and she thought he could just take me, and she could go fulfill her obligation to the homeschoolers' co-op she was missing.
So Mr. Gray came out in a few more minutes, and we headed out again. He still had to make a copy of the policy, so he went to an Office Depot. I waited in the car again. But not nearly so long this time.
When he got back, I saw that the clock said 10:30. I called work. I had told them I would be late. Forget late, I wasn't comin'. No way I'd get there in time to make clocking out at 1:00 worth my while.
We got to the DMV again and I went to the front desk, showed them the paper I was given, and asked where to go. The lady said to go to the back, and hope the trooper was still working on that line, 'cause I'd have to come back on Monday if the trooper was finished and/or disinclined to let me test.

I drove back to the back, where there was NO line. Not good. But there was a lady there, and she said the trooper was working on his last student now, and to wait and see if he wanted to let me drive. So he came back, and yeah, he let me drive. Yay!
So he got in the passenger side....and my hands started trembling. Yeah. I had to grip the steering wheel. He wasn't a scary man...he wasn't very tall or imposing, and his voice wasn't big or boomy, but he was terribly intimidating. At least to me. I noticed that his cologne smelled a lot like the kind my friend Joey wears. I love Joey's cologne. And Joey's cologne reminds me of Dad's cologne, and I always feel better when I can smell it. So I tried to take comfort in the bit of familiarity that I now found in the car. :-)

Well, so we're in this big parking lot, and he points over yonder and says, "Head for those poles over there, that's where we'll run parallel parking." So I started in the direction of the poles, and he docked me points for not using a turn signal....in the big, open, empty parking lot! I didn't know you were supposed to. So anyway, that getting-docked-points-before-I've-even-left-the-lot thing really made me even more agitated. So I went on to parallel park....and I blew it. I tried it again....and I *totally* blew it. I'm usually pretty durn good at the whole p/p thing, and I wasn't worried about passing it. But I was so stinkin' nervous!! He said, "I'm failing you on parallel parking. Get out on that road and take a left at the stop sign.”

So I pulled out, stopped at the stop sign, forgot the direction in which I supposed to turn, and asked, "I'm sorry, turn where?" To which he curtly replied, "Left. Pay attention to my instruction or you will fail."

Great.

Well, short story shorter, I was nervous as heck, but I think I did okay. The important thing is that I PASSED!!!!! And it's about durn time! I'm so happy. The "real" license is in the mail and on its way. But even the temporary paper one is better than gold!!!!! *is so happy*

I would like to take this opportunity to send boo-koos of love and thank-yous to the Gray family. Y'all are the rockinest!!! :-D
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And well, I had originally intended to update y'all on the rest of what's new (this week)....but that would make this, like, "The Blog That Wouldn't End", and we all know nobody wants that. *smile*
So I will finish in a seperate post.

Adieu,
~Ashley~