I waited all of twenty minutes at our small-town DMV (a-a-and my big-city friends just let out a collective groan). But it was the longest wait of HIS sixteen short years! To be honest, time did seem to move in slow motion for me, too: watching him walk out the door with the Driving Instructor, knowing full well that he would bring her back in one piece, but nervous just the same, and wondering if we'd practiced enough merging, gentle accelerating, three-car-length judging and blind spot checking…all the while, wishing I could invest sixteen more years for good measure.
In a moment of panic I suggested, to my “sometimes-friend” Jenay, that perhaps it would be prudent to postpone his driver's test until another day, when I was less hormonal (like, maybe after menopause?). She said that if I waited until after menopause I might be cranky (because my then 35-year-old would still be living at home and bumming a ride to town). She suggested that by moving forward with the day’s plan I would just be irrational and weepy, instead of cranky. My response was that the DMV personnel are highly trained professionals; they can handle CRANKY (a-a-and so many of you just nodded so hard you gave yourself whiplash). She ended by telling me to zip-it, bear-down, focus and BREATHE, darn it! But I was looking more for sympathy than a birthing coach. Which is why she is only my “sometimes-friend” … my “sometimes-friend” who has five incredible kids and can handle just about anything that drops into the vortex also known as her house!
Then she told me she would pray-like-a-mother and take me to Prineville’s new Good Thyme Cafe after my whole ordeal. Which is why she is also my “forever-friend.”
Now, keep in mind that all of this coincided with her own 17-year-old baby just up-and-leaving for Africa, yep, A-F-R-I-C-A; to help the orphans and widows and, in all likelihood, defibrillate her already giant heart that is so full of hope and charity that she leaves many teachers, leaders and so-called theologians shaking their heads as they try and comprehend her amazingly firm grasp on what songwriter Beckah Shae calls L.I.F.E. (Love In Full Effect).
All I have to say about THAT is fasten your seat belts Crook County! She’s home now and her journey is a contagion amongst the ever-growing population of teens-on-a-mission to give life their ALL by jumping over doubts about the American Dream and diving straight into a belief and faith that is breathing!
But, back to my recent trip to Africa (I mean, the DMV). Everything turned out wonderful! There were no “incidents” involving sirens and my man- child passed his test with flying colors. I managed to stay composed, as I stood by the window, lump-in-throat, watching him exit the vehicle and make his way across the tarmac wearing a big ‘ol grin that proclaimed loud and clear - “To LIFE!”
