Tobin's Learner's Permit, but it's my Story

From the minute we pulled into the parking lot and I realized that what was the front of the building used to be the back, I was turned upside down!  I couldn’t remember the last time I had been to the DMV but it was exactly where I remembered it, only turned around like it had been hit by a tornado!  And from the moment Tobin and I walked into the building, I was neurotic!  I had the feeling of being assaulted by my own memories of getting my own permit and license, although the only memory I could vividly recall was failing the driving test!  Let me say, that that is not the memory you want to have competing for the excitement you feel of walking through those doors for the first time with one of your own children.  Tobin seemed calm and cool and collected.  I felt like I was yelling inside with no sound coming out, there were a million butterflies in my stomach and twice as many ants in my pants!

            I immediately started getting worried about the timing of it all.   How did it work-I mean since we were through those doors before 4:30 were we ok or at 4:30 did they chop off the line because they were closed and didn’t care that our life would change by successfully making it through the line?  I should have known we’d be fine, but I worried about it the whole time.  Luckily, the line wasn’t very long at the first desk and we were able to get our number F38 to begin the real wait in line.  But once we had that number I knew that today was it-Tobin would either pass the test and get his learner’s permit…or he wouldn’t.   But once my stomach started, it wouldn’t stop!  I was so excited for Tobin.   Tobin immediately pulled out his phone and had the look of indifference on his face.  I tried to pull out my ipod which I just happened to have.  But I was distracted…by the waiting…the excitement…the knowledge of what we in the middle of….by all of it.  So, I alternated between people watching and staring at the board where the current numbers of people being serviced showed.  F31….oh no…we were F38..how long will it take?  It wasn’t the waiting that was bothering me….it was the excitement and the not knowing rolled into one that bothered me..and that distance was between F31 and F38.

            I looked up and saw a girl from Tobin’s high school.  I said Tobin, “There’s Rachel.  Why don’t you go and say hi?”  He looked at me like I was crazy.   After that, every time a teenager went up to get their permit or their license, I would say to Tobin, “Do you know that person?”  Again, the crazy look! 

            And finally his comment, “Just because those people are my age doesn’t mean I know them or that they go to my school!”  Oh, yeah,….right.  OK, I’ll stop asking.  Finally, they called F38 and I cheered.  Seriously, I cheered.  I stood up and went with Tobin to station 2.  We showed the lady, the paperwork and she took Tobin’s picture, his height and weight and all the other information you need to know about one getting their learner’s permit.  And then he was off to take the timed test.   As he was taking the test, I peeked into the room because I wanted….well, it didn’t matter what I really wanted which was to sit and hold his hand while he was taking the test. So I peeked in to see how he was doing.  I picked the exact wrong moment because all I saw was Tobin’s back slumping in his chair with a perplexed cock of his head (I couldn’t see his face which might really have done me in).  Oh no, it was a hard question.  I had to walk away at that point!  I couldn’t do anything about it..this was Tobin’s journey now.  So, I paced.  And somehow I missed him coming out of the room. He came out a different door than I expected.  And wouldn’t you know that as I walked up to him, I couldn’t tell from any part of him if he had passed or not passed.  And then he told me and broke into a somewhat big smile!  Finally, some expression! It had come down to the last question as to whether he passed or not.  Answer it right and he had his permit, answer it wrong and we would try again another day.   Then we were back to waiting, but this time it was absolutely not a problem.  Finally, we walked out the door and into the night with a new piece of paper that showed our lives, had indeed, changed.