BUZZZ! BUZZZ! My alarm went off, my phone was on the night stand having a seizure in a successful attempt to wake me at seven in the morning during winter break, but I wasn’t upset I was elated, because the second I became fully conscious I remembered why I had set the alarm, why it had taken me so long to fall asleep last night, it was the day I could finally get my license.
I say “finally” not because I had been so impatient (which I had been), but because it was long overdue. I had already been 16 for a few months, but the school’s behind the wheel schedule had been delayed so I couldn’t take it until November, when I finally finished the 3 weeks of behind the wheel we were arranging the documents we needed to get my license when my parents realized they could not find my social security card anywhere, and it was a requirement to get my license I had to get a new one mailed to my house which took about two weeks, then it finally arrived we went to the DMV the next day to find it had closed early that day and would not open until after Christmas. The week dragged on but eventually the day had arrived.
I got there early to make sure I didn’t have to wait long. I stepped out of my car into the crisp frigid morning air and went and stood in the line outside of the DMV. I looked at my phone, 7:45 it was still fifteen minutes before opening but there was still at least 8 people in front of me in line, luckily only one was around my age the rest were most likely not taking their driving test. My dad got out of the passenger side and stood near me in line. The doors opened, I hadn’t even noticed the time pass while I was thinking of all that having a license entailed.
I walked into the warm DMV, relieved to be out of the cold. The line moved quickly and in no time at all we were at the front giving the information needed. Then she asked for the registration of the car I would be using for the test, my dad said it was in the car and he went to go get it. When he came back he was empty handed, my stomach dropped, another obstacle of the many I had already overcome.
I called my mom to see if she could bring the registration, she showed up and said she could not find it, but luckily my dad said the car my mom brought had the registration in it, so I completed the rest of the information needed to get my license and sat down waiting to be called to take the test. There was a girl waIking away from the counter looking disappointed, she had not passed her driving test, it made me nervous. I sat there lost in thought thinking of the first time I drove.
The first time I drove was in another country, to be specific Mexico. It was a blistering hot summer day in the small town where my parents were from. We had been known to go there (there being Tlatenango, a tiny town in middle of Mexico) every few years, to visit family. My family was at the house of a relative which we were staying with and by that point in the trip I had been extremely bored of being stuck in the house. I had been asking my dad to take me to drive for several week and all he said was maybe in Mexico, so I waited and asked again while we were there. To my surprise he said yes, but only a little bit. We went to a small dirt road and switched sides, when I got into the driver’s seat I felt intimidated by all the controls of the car at my fingertips as opposed to being in the passenger seat or the back. I drove down the street at a snail’s pace, trying to remember all I knew about driving while my dad was telling me what to do. I felt so nervous being in control of the car, but I had come a long way since then.
“Kevin” I snapped back to reality and my stomach churned, I got up slowly and walked over. “You must be Kevin, are you ready to take the test?” she asked, my mouth was too dry to answer so I simply nodded. We went outside to into the cold; I got in my mom’s car and was glad it was still warm from when she drove it here. She had not gotten in the car yet, I made me nervous until I realized that she was inspecting the car which she had to do for the test when she got in we started, and I started following her instructions and drove the short route of the test, but I noticed every possible error I made that could cost me my license, by the end of the test when I had to park I was so nervous that I was little too close to the car next to me and had to re-park.

I had turned off the car. She sat there adding up my points. “Were you nervous?” she asked, I nodded. “Well, you did really well and passed” she said, I was so happy the taking the picture and getting my license went by extremely fast. While I was leaving the DMV I realized I really was prepared and shouldn’t have been so nervous, but I guess that that’s the thing about being nervous, it makes the worst case scenarios seem possible. This time though it had not affected my performance, just my emotions before. It’s something everyone has to learn to deal with. From being nervous about a test to being nervous for a job interview, being nervous is going to part of my life. This driving exam helped me realize I could be nervous, but not let it affect me in such a negative way.