In Minnesota, kids need to take the 30 hours of classroom driver's ed before they get their learner permit. With the learner permit in hand, they practice with parents and with driver's ed instructors to get in their practice and experience. Their driver's ed is considered complete when they complete 3 behind the wheel sessions with the driver's ed teachers, and log at least 50 hours of practice with their family.
Why do I post this? Because Abby got her learner permit in 2019 and was working pretty hard to prepare for her driver's test in March. And then the pandemic happened. In Minnesota, it's pretty tough to get an appointment for your road exam. Most kids schedule the appointment six months in advance. This is what we did, and Abby was preparing to take her road test on 3/30. When the Minnesota Governor declared a stay at home order, many services shut down, including driver's exams. So, we waited.
When the pandemic restrictions loosened up, we got her scheduled for another exam... October 25. The 2020 hits just keep on coming, don't they? This was concerning because not only are we moving 45 minutes south, taking Abby from friends and school and her job, but Abby will be starting classes at the U of M in September. Some of her classes are still planned as in-person, so her ability to drive was becoming a bit important. We started stalking the test scheduling site and were super excited to get her an appointment on July 22.
Abby and I were the first of the family to get to spend the night in our new house, as the road test location happened to be in Eagan. We were up at the crack of dawn to get some breakfast and to get in some last minute parking practice. I am so thankful that I did not need to do a 90-degree back in for my road test! I still can't do it. And if I had to parallel park on my test, well, I've simply blocked that memory. Abby just needed a confidence boost, so a few minutes of practice was all she needed. And coffee.
The testing site had been adapted to handle additional cleaning and sanitizing, and I left her in Nathan's car waiting for her tester. I found a spot in the outdoor seating, and tried not to watch, but at the same time, I really wanted to. Her very fist task was to do the 90-degree back in. I swore she hit the edge of one of the cones, but when she and the examiner met me at the end, she was all grins behind her mask. Abby is also pretty sure that she hit the base of a cone, but hey, she's not knocking that she passed.
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| This is the image I sent to Nathan - She's getting ready to start! |
We went out for some celebratory bundt cakes and more coffee and headed to Menard's to pick up paint for Abby's bedroom. That afternoon, Abby and her bestie, Grace, headed back to Eagan to start painting Abby's room.
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| Celebratory Bundt Cakes! |
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| Nah, she wasn't excited at all, was she? |
Here's where things get interesting.
Nathan and I were working on Thursday and made a couple of cursory texts to ensure everyone was alive and well and that there were no painting mishaps we needed to be concerned with. Abby's a good kid, so we trust her. My "proof of life" text around noon generated a "Just getting up now. Going to get Starbucks!" response. About 30 minutes later, my phone rang. It's Abby.
"Hey honey, what's up?"
"So. Um. Your car just died in the Starbucks Drive Thru."
"Oh. I'm really sorry. I'm in a class, so you need to call your dad." (as I am tripping up the stairs to ensure that Nathan picks up his phone.)
Over the next couple of hours Nathan gets a tow truck to the Starbucks and my minivan to a service place where I get a shiny new alternator. Never fear, Abby and Grace were in a safe parking lot, mere feet from a grocery store and several restaurants. It was a warm day, but they survived the ordeal.
Later, I got the full story. I seriously wish I would have video-ed Abby telling it. They had made their order and were 1 car back from the window when the radio turned off, and then everything went dead. Abby asked Grace what to do, and Grace convinced her to go tell the people at the window what had happened. So that's what she did, as Grace made the phone call to me to ask for help. Props to the Starbucks staff, they didn't even flinch. The manager and "his posse" came out and pushed the car to a parking spot. Abby and Grace are convinced they came out of the store like the Avengers showing up for the big battle in End Game - ready to rumble. The manager came out and checked on them as well, and Abby was very appreciative that they were able to help. The manager said it was a great story, which became even better when he learned that she had JUST received her license on Wednesday.
Edited to add:
It took several weeks before Abby would go through that particular Starbucks drive thru though.
