DMV

Yesterday I took up a hard plastic chair on the north side of our local DMV office, plugged in my iPod and tried not to make eye contact with anyone. (If you've hung out at the DMV or your local Greyhound Bus terminal recently, you understand defensive moves.)

This is my fourth week in a row in this stand of chairs. I'm here because my 17 year old son is trying to pass the test to get his learner's permit.

Four times sounds pretty bad. But really, he only tried three of those times. He didn't study for the first test because, he felt he didn't need to -- that driving is all common sense. For test two, I think he fell asleep halfway through the book. Test three was the most humiliating. He really did study for it and he really knew the answers... they just psyched him out with some trick answers that sort of sounded right.

He was so upset after test 3 that he declared on the ride home, "that's it! I just won't drive."

The whole test three experience was traumatic -- before because he was nervous... during because I was nervous... and after because he was crushed. But this is what a parent does. You gut through the tough stuff for your kid and hopefully he learns something as a result.

We persevered to week four.

Week four had an auspicious beginning... I picked him up from school and he was in a great mood. He slung his arm around me, looked me in the eye and said he appreciated me taking time out from work to do this with him again.

Wow! A thank you AND a smile. How could we lose?

We couldn't and we didn't and I would've gone for week five if I had to because... well, that's just me!