“Bet you’re happy now, huh?”

That was the first thing he said when we got to the privacy of the car. Talk about a knife to the heart… because 1. it was completely untrue, and 2. I can’t stand it when my kids are upset.

He knows better, of course, he’s just upset. You see, today was the big day – and he didn’t pass his driver’s test. Rumor has it he got the toughest instructor, and afterwards as we deconstructed what she’d said, it came down to a few things, but it included the fact that she simply did not communicate very well. The worst part for me though, was that she made him WAIT for 15 minutes when we got back before telling him he didn’t pass.

We know what to work on though, and she did have a glowing compliment for his defensive driving skills (He avoided an accident – one SHE didn’t see coming… though she auto failed him for something she thought “might” have caused one himself by pulling onto the highway with what she judged to be not enough room. Even after she’d marked him down for hesitating too long the turn before that. Sigh.)

So, in two weeks we try again, and as soon as hes done being mad about it, we’ll get to practicing once more. Now he knows the general route they’ll take him out on, how they phrase things (like “take the outer turn lane” – uh, is that LEFT or RIGHT lady?!) and the few things he needs to work on.

Like using the blinker before parallel parking. Which was TOTALLY my bad – because uh, we don’t parallel park around here at ALL. So I couldn’t remember, ya know? But now we know. And next time, it’ll be all system’s go.

Gives him another 2 weeks to fix up The Beast to drivable status, anyway.

(…but oh. This Mama’s heart hurts for him…)

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