After nearly seven months of dealing with a very difficult situation, we were finally able to move forward last week. Mason completed the eight hours of driving he needed with a driving instructor so he could get his learner's permit. I cannot even say enough about his instructor. She was so gracious to us and really went above and beyond in making sure we had a positive experience after such a bad one that she had absolutely nothing to do with. She is a school bus driver, and she did a fantastic job teaching Mason how to drive on the surface streets and the interstate through Baton Rouge. I had so many doubts about this, but she reassured me every time. I've always known and thought this, but it just reaffirmed my thought that bus drivers are special people!
Her goal was to get us scheduled for driving time as quickly as possible. She asked if it was possible for Mason to miss a couple of mornings of school to drive. The old pre-COVID Julie would've said, "Absolutely not!" But the new and improved hopefully-we're-post-COVID-really-soon Julie said, "Tell me when!" The weather messed us up so he ended up missing only one morning of school. That was his first lesson. His instructor told me he did great. When I asked him how he did, he said, "Well, no one honked at me. So I'm pretty sure that means I did a good job."
The original plan was then for him to finish up last Monday and Tuesday during Mardi Gras break. But then came the ice storm. So we tried for Wednesday, but the bridge and interstates were still closed, and it was just impossible for us to get into Baton Rouge for his lesson. I had my heart set on finishing Tuesday and resigned myself to dragging it out another couple of weeks or so since so many appointments had to be rescheduled. But our instructor would have none of that. She rescheduled us on Thursday and again on Saturday to finish.
About an hour into his lesson on Thursday (this was only his second lesson since all the others were canceled), she called me. As soon as I saw her number my mind went to all kinds of crazy places. But she was calling to tell me that he was doing so well that she went ahead and got him on the interstate. I was NOT expecting that. She told me her plan was to make him drive over the bridge, to our house, to school and then back over the bridge into Baton Rouge on Saturday. I was just a tad bit anxious about that when I dropped him off on Saturday. And he was just a tad bit aggravated with me for insisting on documenting the momentous occasion.
Monday after school I took him back to the DMV to convert his temporary instructional permit to a learner's permit. Just take my word for it, and don't even ask.
So here's to the next six months of sitting in the passenger seat!