Saturday. Harrison's road test. He went to Driver's Ed at a local place which is an absolute dump run by degenerates. All the kids we know go here. The owner is as old as Methuselah. Some of the ceiling panels are missing. Place smells of mold. The chairs bear the initials of every previous student (we found Sam's). Some more ambitious students also carved messages ("bite me"; "this place sucks").
It's amazing anyone learns anything there, yet somehow they do.
With the new rules, parents must log in at least 40 hours of driving time with their kids. We did 40 hours by June but made Harrison drive all summer and Fall just to be sure. Because of his busy schedule with school and skating and newspaper, we couldn't get an appointment with his driving school until December.
So, we switched to the driving school in the next town. This one is run by Russian immigrants. I could barely understand "Yanna" over the phone. For some extra money, they could find a spot in November and on a Saturday.
We arrive as scheduled at 11:30 for the 12:00 test. There is no obvious system in place. The three Russians are running the show (husband, wife and some enormous guy whom we watched consume an entire dozen of Dunkin' Donuts). Harrison comments that he feels like we are in the movie Red Dawn--where the Russians take over the U.S.
I get out of my car to ask what the process is. The donut guy comes over and says "Please to vait in car. I vill call you." He called us --two hours later.
Finally, Harrison takes his test. He passes.
He takes the wheel of our car to drive home. Gives me a kiss on the cheek and says, "Your services are no longer required."
It's the end of an era of schelpping kids around for 21 years. School, hockey, baseball, skating, etc.
And just like that, I'm obsolete.
What will I do with my newfound time? I have big plans to go to the gym and spend time there.
But first, I'm going to take to my bed and have a good cry.
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