Yesterday was Austin's birthday. I took a half day of vacation so that I could take him to get his learners license. We've held off on him driving for a lot of reasons... I didn't feel like he was ready to have that kind of responsibility. I couldn't afford to add him as a driver on my car insurance and I couldn't afford to buy him his own car. But the biggest thing... in Georgia kids have to have good attendance in school to be able to have a drivers license if they're under 18. Austin never managed to maintain good attendance (and it's actually reported to the DMV) so we had to wait until he was 18 to get his license. He's eager to drive and I'm eager for him to learn. I'm nervous about it. Really, really nervous. But I want to do everything I can to help him become a responsible adult. So we spent an hour and a half in the hard plastic chairs at the DMV waiting for his turn to take the knowledge test to be able to get his learner's license. He did. He's happy. I'm going to see if we can find an affordable drivers training program for him to take some of the pressure off of me.
After we finished at the DMV... I let him pick where he wanted to eat... we went to Wild Wings Cafe and had wings... we were the only ones in the restaurant - it was about 3:30 - and neither of us had breakfast or lunch yesterday. I forgot to eat breakfast and we wanted to go straight to the DMV before we got lunch. He just - I think he was nervous or something. Anyways... we were so hungry and they were SO slow... I thought I'd pass out in the restaurant before they brought our food. They had a spanish language soap opera playing on the tv's with the sound turned off so Austin and I were making up dialogue and creating story lines on the different characters. We were slap happy at that point.
Austin asked if he could buy a lottery ticket - now that he's old enough. He was wanting to show off that ID. I stopped at a gas station and let him go in by himself to buy some scratch off tickets... and they didn't even card him. He even told the attendant, "I've never done this before... what should I get?" and they didn't question it.
We went to Walmart to get a wallet so he had somewhere to put his license. He was really embracing this whole adult thing. I'm so proud of him... all that we've been through over the years... he's overcome so much, he's been in situations that no kid should have to endure... he's been mistreated by peers, teachers, his step-father... he's had very little involvement from his father... he's lived in nine different places in 18 years... there hasn't always been stability in his life and he's a kid who craves stability... but he's rolled with the punches, played whatever hand he was dealt and continued to have a great attitude and unwavering optimism. He's different... he makes choices I would rather he didn't at times... he's a mess... he dresses like a homeless man and sometimes smells like one... but he really is a great kid and I am so proud to be his mom.
Whew. Now it's Friday. The extra time driving, sitting in hard chairs, walking, standing, etc yesterday really did a number on my back and I'm uncomfortable but it's Friday. Friday. Friday. I could sing about it but I won't. In 12 hours, Lord willing, I'll be back in my nest.
Have a great day, y'all!
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