Posted in Life in the Crazy House

The big moment had come.  David was going to take his driver's test and get his license.  The test was at 9:00 a.m. so the plan was to leave at 8:30 in the morning.  The form the testing people gave us had a list of paperwork we needed to bring.  I had told David to look over the list and make sure we had everything so we would be all ready to leave in the morning.

We were up and out of the house by 8:30.  We got to the test place with time to spare.  We gathered all the papers we needed, but, wait!  Where is the proof of insurance?

"Here it is!" I shout.  "No, this is the old one!  It must be here somewhere!  I just put it in here the other day!"  I shuffle through the center console and the glove box, papers falling everywhere.

You see our policy had run out on Oct. 1st and it was the 8th.  I frantically look at the clock.  Good, it's only 8:50.

I know I just put it in here!  "Why didn't you check for it last night when I told you to check everything?" I asked David, growing even more frantic.

So he proceeds to tell me he checked his stuff.  You know, his permit and driver's ed certificate.  He figured he shouldn't have to check on ours.  Why would he think that??? 

"Drive up to the door!  NO!  Wait!  Let me call Dad!  No!  Just start to go home in case I can't get the AAA number and have to get the copy!  No!  Wait!  Drive me to the door! Go!  Hurry!  Hurry!  I need to make sure they can get a copy faxed!"

So I run in and ask if it's OK if the insurance company faxes them a proof of insurance.  They say it's no problem, and they give me the fax number.  I run back to the car.

"OK," I say to David, "we can just have AAA send a fax.  Now how do I get the number?"

I look on our old proof.  No number.  I try my husband, but can't get him.  I panic again and tell David maybe we should still drive towards home just in case.  He starts to drive home and I finally call information on my cell.  I get the main AAA number and call it.  I get a phone tree.  Do you know how much I hate those phone trees?  I tell the robot lady, "Come on! Come on!"

I tell David to pull into the nearby parking lot.

I sit there until I get a real human and tell her I need an emergency proof, give her the fax number and she puts me on hold to make sure it went through.  I tell David to go back to the test place.

We get there and the test place already has the fax.  It seems like forever, but it's really only like 9:01.  The whole thing was simple, really.  And could have been a whole lot simpler if I had not panicked.

So we take the road test and I sit in the back seat reading a magazine and David passes without a hitch.  God must have felt like giving me a break after my rough morning, so we were actually only at Secretary of State to get his license for about a half hour.  That is unheard of.

Later, I relay the story to my husband who tells me I gave him the proof in the living room and he had put it in his wallet.  Oops! 

So now my oldest son has his license.  I'm just guessing, but I have strange a feeling the panic is just beginning!

~The Crazy Mom