The Quest for my Driver's License (Part 1)

After long last (by long, I mean like 5 years), I have earned my Driver’s License. It was a process that began back before I started at the College and just ended. . . 3 days ago. I am quite relieved and excited by this little card, which has a rather attractive picture of my disembodied head floating on it.

But the process was long not only in the macro sense (the 5 years), but also in the micro sense (last week). For the driving test I took which earned me this license was not my first attempt to gain the license. Oh no. This was attempt number THREE in as many days. The story of the macro sense is boring (it just took a while for me to get all 60 hours of in car required for the license). The micro one is heartbreaking.

Let’s start on Tuesday.

Tuesday

I had an appointment for the driving test on Tuesday. That’s right, appointment. Maryland requires you to set up an appointment for your driving test (which is a good idea, since some people in other states, like Virginia, do not have such appointments, and some people just show up and don’t get to take their tests. Sad face). So I went to the MVA (aka, the DMV) to take the test. I was going to take the test in my mom’s Volvo, a jerky car that I had some experience driving (I was more used to driving the family’s van, but never you mind). I stood in line, filled out the paperwork, and was told to pull around to the side to begin the test. We did (my mom and younger sister were with me), and we sat, waiting for the tester to come. She arrived and immediately started conversing with my mom about the Volvo, which is similar to hers. Then she started the external examination of the car. I turned on the wipers, I turned on my lights, showed off my knowledge of turn signals and hazard lights, etc. As she was walking around the car, she paused. She looked over at my mom, and made a comment. My mom came over to talk to her.

They were talking about the headlights.

Now, you must understand this about the headlights on my mom’s Volvo. The headlights themselves work great. Superb. There is nothing wrong with them, save for the fact, which this tester properly noticed, that the cover is missing from one of the headlights. It’s just a bulb, shining forth in the night. Kinda poetic, actually. What makes it more poetic is that its not an easily fixable problem. But it works, so why bother. Plus, my brother had taken his driving test in the Volvo, and he had passed, once the issue was explained to the tester that he had.

Well, it didn’t work for this tester. The car was disqualified because of the light. But don’t worry, she said. This won’t go down as a failure, on your part. Just that your car was disqualified. You can come back, heck, later today, if you can get a different car. And with that, we left, attempt MVA – 1; Ibid – 0.

It was a good thing Tuesday’s events didn’t count as a failure. When you fail a driving test, you can retake the test the next day. If you fail again, you can’t take the test for a week.

It was a good thing I didn’t fail, because I needed the extra testing day after Thursday’s debacle.