(Ahem, thank you, Rain Man.)
So, it seems that it just never ends when you get into two auto accidents in one year. Not only did I have to buy a new car, but then had to fix it when I crashed it again. Not only did I get dropped by GEICO, but we have to pay almost 1200 dollars to insure me for the next six months. Not ONLY am I reeling from all this money-spending and embarrassment that comes with crashing twice in one year, but then I get...a letter.
I came home last Thursday night, exhausted, only to receive a letter from the DMV informing me that I had twenty days to come in and retake not only the written but the state driving test as well. I cried for about two hours (again, like I did when I found out I was dropped by my insurance company) and made myself sick over thinking about taking that test again in Colorado, six years after failing my first three times in California. I could have sworn I had improved since then, but two accidents are glaring evidence to the contrary, no matter how many times people tell you that you are a good driver and that you have nothing to worry about. I nearly worried myself into an illness, and doubted my ability to operate any moving object bigger than a scooter-board. I began to fantasize about what it would be like to be a shut-in, have to ride the bus, and have to quit my job because it wouldn't be feasible to ride a bus two and half hours each way to work every day. How would I be a good wife and be able to run errands and do the shopping, etc, etc...? I was a mess.
So, in the midst of all my whining and crying and fearing and worrying, my gracious God and my gracious husband (or perhaps more rightly, my gracious God THROUGH my gracious husband) talked me down from my dramatic heights of hysteria and back into reality. I went from feeling like I was going to vomit every time I thought about driving to waking up on Sunday morning feeling inexplicably confident that I am a good driver and that I would pass the driving test.
So I went in this morning on my morning off, got up at 6:30am to drive through -8F degree weather and snowpack on the highways to take the test. I only got one answer wrong on the written, so it was on to the driving. My instructor warned me that if I lost control of the vehicle in any way (skidding or fishtailing, even because of the icy roads) that I would automatically fail and I would be issued a 60 day permit (where I wouldn't be allowed to drive alone) until I could get it together and pass the test. She asked if I would like to reschedule to when the roads were clear, and I decided it was now or never. If I was to prove myself to the DMV, I wanted it to be in those conditions!!
Needless to say, I passed. She barely had anything to say about my driving, except that I could go even slower than I was already going, considering the conditions, and that when I make left turns, I don't use the "hand-over-hand" method of steering. (Psh.) Apparently I'm fine on my steering in right hand turns. Go figure. So I thank God, my husband, and my friends for praying for me. I am so blessed to have lovely people around me. I am blessed to be able to drive, and I have vowed to remember that, and to take my driving a little more seriously than perhaps I have been previously. Lives are at stake, after all, not to mention thousands of dollars spent on every crash I decide to get into again!
Hopefully, I'm done with accidents forever (a girl can try!), and the DMV for quite some time, at least. Praise God!
