The Drivers Permit

Blooming Prairie is a pretty small town. Among things it doesn't have is a stop light.  During high school we took drivers ed.  We had classes on Saturdays and then we had behind the wheel after school.  One of the last behind the wheel classes we had was to drive to Rochester.  We drive on the highway the whole way there and we drove around Rochester getting to practice with stop lights.  I feel that having only one day being able to practice in a big city was a bit of a disadvantage for the blossoms.  I am trying to make excuses here but also I know that many people who took behind the wheel in Blooming were able to successfully pass their license test on the first try.  I was not one of them.

I successfully passed the written permit test.  Six months later I was allowed to attempt to get my license.  My mom drove a minivan and we decided that would be too hard to test in.  My grandma MaryEllen lived in Albert Lea at the time and agreed to let me use her car.  When I pulled up to the DMV in Albert Lea I was told that Grandma's car had a light out so I couldn't use her car.  My uncle Steve was with us, he said I could use his BMW, a car he was very proud of.  The instructor, I will call her The Beast due to her being about 7 feet tall with long dark hair and a snarl on her face at all times, asked me to turn on the lights in the BMW, I said I didn't know how.  I had never been in my uncles car before. Then she asked me to turn on the defrost, again I said I don't know how.  After failing both those questions we started.  The DMV in Albert Lea is surrounded by train tracks.  I did not know that I needed to yield at all train tracks and look out for trains. Needless to say I failed miserably.  After The Beast told me I failed she proceeded to tell me all the things I did wrong.  It was quite a long list.  I was disappointed but set up another test in two weeks.

After studying hard and practicing I attempted again.  This time I used my Grandma's car and I knew how to use the lights.  I tried so hard to pass.  I was so anxious as The Beast and I finished the test.  The Beast said I had failed.  I started to cry.  I was so mad.  I opened the car door to run away.  The Beast yelled, "Sit down, I'm not done." I said, " I don't care, I know I failed you told me it all before just let me leave."  She said, "No you have to hear this."  She then told me all the mistakes I had made while I balled my eyes out in the drivers seat.  I went into the DMV to meet my mom.  The Beast followed me and told me that I needed to renew my permit because it was about to expire.  She also told me that due to my actions I had to wait a month to retake my license, instead of just two weeks.  I continued to ball.  I got in line to renew my permit.

A smiling lady told me that Minnesota just changed its policies and that instead of paper permits they were now issuing picture permits similar to a license.  She said I would need to have my picture taken.

Still crying I got in line.  I refused to smile.  I continued to cry the entire time.  Hence the picture.

After my month suspension my mom allowed me to try in a different town. On Christmas Eve 1998 I passed my license test in Owattona, driving my moms minivan.