The Licensed Driver

On Friday Don drove to Everett where Nathan was taking his driver's test for his Washington license. If you've been reading this blog for quite some time, you might remember that it took Nathan 4 tries to get his license up here in Canada. That's right, 4. Don, bless his heart, took Nathan every single time and never seemed to lose hope or patience. The funny thing is that Nathan really is a good driver. He's just not a good tester. He finally did get his license the spring of his Grade 11 year and since then he hasn't had one ticket or one accident.

He found out when he moved to Seattle that his Canada license is no good in the state of Washington. This was very bad news for Nathan, as he envisioned repeating those driver's tests, one by one, until he finally passed. Since he lived right downtown, and since he didn't own a vehicle anyway, he never bothered to go through the testing process to get his Washington license. Until now, when he agreed to housesit and dogsit for a shipmate who is back east for training. He now lives a good 45 minutes away from Seattle, and has a Nissan Pathfinder available to him. This all prompted him to go through the hoops of getting that driver's licence.

The first step was to take a written test and get his driver's permit. He had to conquer his fear of public transit in order to get to the licensing office. He got there on a Monday only to find a sign on the door saying they were closed for some bizarre reason. Walking back to the bus stop, he got pooped on by a bird. Poor Nathan. Not his day. He went back a couple of days later and passed the test on his first try! This was a huge improvement over the many times he took the Canadian test.

So, he then scheduled a driver's test for Friday, April 3, in Everett. He asked if he could use the Yaris to take his test in, as it's a tiny little car that's easy to drive and park. Much easier than the Pathfinder. Don took half a day off so he could be in Everett in time for Nathan to practice a little before the test. Everything went according to plan until they went into the office and learned that Nathan's apointment wasn't on Friday the 3rd, it was on Friday the 10th! You can imagine the emotions that were floating around the office at that time!

Nathan rescheduled his test for this morning at 10:30. A very elated Nathan called me at 10:45 to tell me that he passed! On his first try! Using the Pathfinder! We're all very excited and proud of Nathan. Mostly I'm proud that he did all of the administrative stuff himself in getting his permit and his license. He found information, locations, made phone calls, etc. to make this all happen. Without my assistance. For Nathan, that's huge. He's clearly on the road to becoming an independent adult. Phew.

And now we have a licensed driver.