Goodbye Student Driver. Hello Sweet Freedom.

So, yesterday was the big day. And this is the very honest-to-goodness account of how it all went down.

Dad scheduled my drivers test for 10 o'clock on Friday morning. 

Because I (and my parents) thought it would be prudent to practice my parking before the test, we planned to arrived approximately an hour early.

And because I needed a good deal of mental rest and preparation for this test, I decided to hit the hay as soon as possible Thursday night. 

Although I was snuggled cozily between my covers, I hardly slept a wink (mostly out of the sheer trepidation).  To my dismay, I laid languidly, wide awake and trembling with fear. 

Even the clock was finding the time to taunt me with it's endless "ticks" and "tocks".

"What if I make stupid mistakes?!"And, "What if I just freeze-up and can't DRIVE? Worse still, "What if I... fail?!" 

Questions like these were swarming my brain.

Finally falling asleep a little past midnight, I awoke only six hours later. It was one of those dreamless, shallow, and uneasy nights. 

At 6am I was wide awake, and wishing I wasn't - I thought about going back to sleep, but didn't want to risk getting up late. Once I finished getting ready for the day, I had the most intense urge to crawl into my warm, inviting bed and bury myself in the darkness of sleep. But I didn't. 

Instead, I got breakfast... and coffee. Drinking some of that wonderful coffee, I perked-up a little and decided to let God handle the situation -- He is God, after all. Why should I worry?

My heart rate considerably (but not all the way) calmed, I drove my dad and I on over to a church parking lot (where I was to take the parking portion of my test). However, I couldn't practice just then because another girl was taking her parking test. 

It gave me no particular comfort to watch as she completely plowed down a few cones while parallel parking. 

Not exactly wanting to watch anymore, we drove to a nearby gas station and topped off the tank (I got to pump the gas). 

After practicing my skills in the aforementioned parking lot, I felt more uneasy than ever. I was so scared; my eyes were the size of hubcaps and my knees were knocking like... well, who knows what! *Gulp*

When Mr. Roder came over to the car and gave the instructions, I honestly thought I was going to be sick... he told me that I looked "nervous." Looking at me in his Mr. Roder-ish way, he chuckled. It sort of made me feel a little bit better. Sort of.

Honestly, I've never been so nervous in my entire life.  

I took my parking test. Not only did I take it, but I passed. And not only did I pass, but I didn't make any errors - I didn't even hit or flatten a single cone!

Somehow, I even managed to parallel park perfectly in a single, fluid movement.

An important thing to note is that I was praying the entire time. Acknowledging that God is bigger than the test, I gave it up to Him. Basically, I was thinking, "If it is God's will, He'll help me to pass the test."

Also, the driving portion went well. He mostly talked to my dad (a ploy to make me feel more comfortable with him and his clipboard — it worked). 

He wrote out my level 2 license certificate and I drove on over to the Secretary of State directly after the test. 

Parallel parking is tough. 

Well, tougher still is parallel parking behind a Corvette... with the man who owns it sitting right there, watching me. 

I wanted to circle around again, but my dad convinced me of the necessity to park; it was that, or no parking at all. Actually, it was the only parking spot vacant in the area. 

Both the Corvette and my dad's car came out unscathed. 

After all the paperwork was finished, I flashed a slightly goofy, metal-mouth smile and had my picture taken for my license.  I also might have infected the older man (who was helping me) with my starry-eyed excitement. The whole process was absolutely riveting.

When I got home, I was just itching to use my newfound freedom. Dragging Matt out to the car, I took my first ever "solo" drive around the neighborhood. It was great.

When Jon came home from YHR later in the afternoon, I drove him, Matt, and I over to see Toy Story 3. But I'll spare you that excitement for another post. 

*Phew* I'm exhausted and extremely relieved.