May 5, 2008

What an exciting day today is. Emily is 16 years old and we're on way to Falmouth to the RMV to take the permit test. Emily has been itching to drive since she was 9 years old and I'm happy to see her finally old enough to do it. We get to Falmouth and they promptly tell us that they're computers are down. We decide to wait for a little while in hopes that they come back up. After about 30 minutes we decide that we'll drive to Yarmouth. 45 minutes later we arrive in Yarmouth, we quickly move through the line, verify our paperwork, pay the fee and Emily is ushered into a little room to a computer terminal. I sit out in the waiting room, thinking everything is great, my little girl's going to get her permit, it's her birthday...what a good day. Until she comes out and tells me she failed...."what" I say..."How could that be?" "You've studied that book for months, you've wanted to drive all your life what happened???" She said "It was hard" Now I'm in a state of disbelief and ask the man if there's a waiting period before she can take it again, he says no...she can take it again right now...UGH...This was not part of the plan, to top it off Emily was hoping to go to school today. Dan's been bugging me to go to Bonkerz, a kids play area right around the corner http://www.bonkerzpartyzone.com/, and I kept telling him no. I asked Em if she wanted to try again and she said yes...So we pull into Bonkerz and I tell her to sit in the car an study. Dan has a great time, Em studies her book (It's not that big a book) and off we go back to the RMV, wait in line, verify our paperwork, and pay the fee and Emily is again directed to a computer in that little room. I take a seat and wait, and watch...and it's excruciating. It's her birthday, this was supposed to be easy! There's another man in there taking the test, he stands up and walks out. The proctor asks him how it went, he said "not this time" apparently he's taken the test 3 times and failed, he looks of sounds mind and judgement, mid 30's and he failed? I begin to wonder what exactly is on this test. So I watch Emily, her expressions give her away and I can tell immediately when she's missed a question. She looks really stressed, she's shaking and sweating and I really want her to pass this test. She touches the screen one last time and puts her head in her hands. Stands up and smiles and then I knew she'd done it. Whew...quick trip to McD's and off to school, when we get close Emily decides it's too close to the end of the day and just wants to go home. The mail has a couple of surprises for Emily, she's thrilled with the gifts and Danny uses a pair of scissors to fashion a vest and shield from the envelope. Emily chose her favorite chicken for dinner, and we enjoy a nice quiet evening at home.