Getting my License

     When it came time for me to get my permit I was so excited and so read to get out on the road! I never felt little growing up, but as I’ve watched my two younger brothers I always think “Wow was I that small when I did that too?" So it is getting around that time when my little brother is starting to get his permit just like I was a couple years ago. Again I find myself asking, "Wow was I that small when I did that too?"   

       Anyways it all started with reading the dreadful required permit book. All I remember is that it was long, boring and that you had to park 15 feet away from a fire hydrant. Who even does that?

The next thing was going to the DMV to take the driving permit test. If you failed you had to come back another day and try again. Luckily I passed the first time and got an official white papered permit with an awkward picture of myself on it.

      After you had a permit you were required to take a Driver’s Ed course. I did mine during the month of June every day from 6:30-8am. I am a crazy person. At the same time as this class you did something called “Simulators” which lasted about a week. You sat in a dark room behind a fake wheel, fake pedals and a fake seat belt and you drove, if you can call it that. You learned how to use your blinker, use the brakes and gas, watch out for pedestrians, follow the speed limit, etc. You had to pass a certain amount of these to complete this requirement. I only failed one…and that was because I might’ve fallen asleep at the wheel. But you gotta give me break because it was early and when they turned the lights off I had no control over my eyelids.  

     Next was what we called “Range” and it lasted two weeks. You got into a car with an adult in the passenger seat and two other students in the back. You drove around on in a random parking lot with weird lines all over the place. This is where they teach you how to parallel park, diagonally park, make a U turn, make a left turn, make a right turn, etc. I was never very good at the whole parallel park thing and the adult might’ve said that I had a lead foot, but hey I passed!

    After Range you had to get 40 hours of driving time on the road with a parent. This part was pretty easy, as well as pretty scary. I give a lot of credit to my dad for this one because ever since I was a kid he always let me drive the car when we would take trips down to Moab and go jeeping. He also let me drive all the way down and back from St. George one weekend. Bless his heart.

   Driving is awesome. I love it. Follow the rules and you’re good to go.