It Was A Bright And Sunny Morn

At least, it looked to be.

So Bigger Girl and i dropped #2 Son at driving school and went on a stealth mission: to have her take the driving test so she could move from a permit to a full license. She'd been practicing long enough, and knew her stuff.

We wanted it to be a surprise for everyone else, and she wanted to not have to disappoint everyone if for some reason she didn't pass, so that's why it was a secret.

When i have to go down to the DMV main branch for anything, i try desperately to get there 45 minutes before opening so that it all seems to go faster. The fact is you are going to wait, no matter what time you go, and i would rather wait before they open than after.

This time we could not do that because of the timing to drop #2 Son off, so we did our waiting after we got there.

Wait to check in and get a number. Wait for the number to be called. Wait to be called into the side room where they arrange all testing. Get sent back out to wait until there was a tester free to drive with her. Get involved in a conversation with other moms and teens there to taking driving tests -- all of us taking advantage of spring break to get it done. Listen as one of them came out of the testing room to say, "The lady says they may not be able to let us do it, it looks like rain."

Oh, horrors! Yes, it was clouding up, just what we didn't want. Hurry, i kept thinking, get us through before anything starts! Finally a very nice young lady, who looked barely older than Bigger Girl, comes out and calls her name.

The next half hour was nerve wracking. When she came back through she caught my eye, smiled, and went straight into the testing room. Another wait. When she came out she beamed. "I passed!"

Yahoo! Another short wait, take a new picture, get a new license, and drive off as the sun breaks through -- it never did rain at all, and the rest of the day was as bright and sunny as the early morning had been. G-d and nature making us sweat it out, perhaps?

Another newly minted driver in the family. Time to formally tell the insurance company, although we don't have a car to assign to her as primary driver, so it shouldn't do much to the rates. As long as we are just sharing my van, i am primary and my rate applies.

Sweetie had spring break, too, so to celebrate she drove him to the movies. Fun.

She finished up the evening by saying, "You know, life used to be easier before you had to have ID and all of that. There were no birth certificates; back then, if you told people you were born, they took your word for it!"


Today is

Animated Cartoon Day -- date of release, in 1908, of Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, often considered the first actual animated cartoon

California Poppy Day -- California, US (state flower)

Chakri Dynasty Day and King Rama I Memorial Day -- Thailand

Drowsy Driver Awareness Day -- please pull over and take a nap when you need to

Full Pink Moon -- a/k/a Full Sprouting Moon, Grass Moon, Egg Moon, White Moon, Virgin Moon, and Fish Moon; in other traditions
Bak Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka

Good Friday/Passion Friday -- Christian (remembrance of the crucifixion of Jesus)

Hanuman Jayanti -- Hindu

Jump Over Things Day -- probably started by the same people who brought us Walk Around Things Day on the 4th; as if friends and family aren't looking at you strangely enough after that one

Mahavir Jayanti -- Jain

National Caramel Popcorn Day

National Hot Cross Bun Day -- always on Good Friday

National Walk to Work Day

New Beer's Day -- unofficial US celebration of the end of Prohibition

Plan Your Epitaph Day -- figure out how you want to be remembered, and then live that way! some sites list Nov. 2 instead

President Ntaryamira Day -- Burundi

Sorting-Out of the Doggets Day -- Fairy Calendar

St. Sixtus' Day (Patron of Alatri, Italy)

Tartan Day -- Scottish diaspora of Canada and the US

Theravadin New Year -- Buddhist (through the 9th)

Think About Spring Cleaning Day -- don't do it, just think about it



Birthdays Today:

Candace Cameron, 1976
Zach Braff, 1975
Ari Meyers, 1969
Paul Rudd, 1969
Marilu Henner, 1952
John Razenberger, 1947
Philip Austin, 1941
Merle Haggard, 1937
Billy Dee Williams, 1937
Andre Previn, 1929
Lowell Thomas, 1892
Butch Cassidy, 1866
Raphael, 1483


Today in History:

Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) in the battle of Thapsus, BC46
The Roman army under the command of Stilicho stymies the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia, 402
Charlemagne confirms his father Pepin the Short's "Donation of Pepin," which had established the Papal States, 774
King Richard I, The Lionheart, of England dies from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder, 1199
The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath, 1320
The Italian poet Petrarch first sees his beloved Laura, 1327
At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town , 1652
An earthquake devastates Dubrovnik, then an independent city-state, 1667
Peter the Great of Russia ends the tax on men with beards in that country, 1722
Rama I succeeds King Taksin of Siam (modern day Thailand), who is overthrown in a coup d'état, 1782
The Committee of Public Safety becomes the executive organ of the republic in France, and the period known as the Reign of Terror begins, 1793
John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, 1808
Celluloid, the first plastic, is patented, 1869
The city of Vancouver, BC, is incorporated, 1886
The Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City is dedicated, 1893
In Athens, the first modern Olympic Games are opened, 1,500 years after being banned by Emperor Theodosius I; James Connoly of the US becomes the first gold medalist of the modern games, 1896
The Kishinev pogrom forces thousands of Jews to seek refuge in Israel and the West, 1903
Robert Peary and Matthew Henson allegedly reach the North Pole, 1909
Governor Huey P. Long is impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1929
Mohandas Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire." Thus he starts the Salt Satyagraha, 1930
Launch of Early Bird, the first communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit, 1965
The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter, 1973
Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India, 1998
Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from office by impeachment, 2004