An Eventful Week in an Eventful Year
Got my driver's license a week ago. Finally! It took me till I was 29 years old and almost 9 months pregnant with my first child, but I got it. I am officially a licensed driver. Yup. Me.
My test was scheduled for 11:30 am last Wednesday, and it was nice & sunny out. That was important because if there's even a cloud in the sky they call it "inclement weather" and cancel or postpone all road tests. On the way to the DMV Johnny, my driving instructor, gave me some helpful pointers about changing lanes. In the past I've gotten nervous about it, spent way too long checking my blind spot and ended up doing this herky-jerky motion to get into the other lane. He had me practice a few times till I could do it smoothly. We got to the DMV and my examiner was a very nice lady. She had me back out of my parking space and head toward the road, then asked if I was pregnant. Awesome! No strangers have asked me that my entire pregnancy and I'd been feeling like I just looked fatter than usual rather than glowing and with child. That alone made my day. So she had me drive around a few side streets, where I carefully obeyed the traffic laws and maintained an appropriate speed. Then I pulled onto a main road where she had me change lanes a couple of times, so Johnny's lane-changing tutorial turned out to be well-timed. Then she directed me back to the DMV, had me pull into a parking space, and told me I'd passed. WOO HOO!!!!! I couldn't believe how easy it was. I knew they didn't test on parallel parking in Tennessee but I expected to have to back up 50 feet, do a 3-point turn, park on a hill, etc. Either I got the pregnant lady handicap or it's this easy for everyone. Regardless, I earned my little piece of plastic and am allowed to drive all by myself. I'm a big girl now, huh?
Then on Sunday I got.... A BRAND NEW CAR!!!!!!! (I've always wanted to say that, in the voice of the announcer guy on The Price Is Right. Cue me running down the aisle in a bright colored T-shirt with my big ol' pregnant boobs bouncing all over the place.)
Rich & I visited a couple of local dealerships on Saturday. I'd been envisioning a clunky 10-year-old used car that somebody's grandma drove to and from the supermarket and church. But Rich felt that a new car would be better and safer for me & the baby. We didn't find anything we really wanted on Saturday, so we tried another dealership on Sunday, specifically Crown Ford on Thompson Lane in Nashville. We told each other we weren't necessarily going to buy, we just wanted to see what was out there.
And what was out there? A 2007 Ford Focus sedan. Maroon with gray interior. Automatic transmission, 4-cylinder engine (27 mpg city/34 mpg highway) and a surprisingly roomy interior, thanks to the cab-forward design. 5 years' roadside assistance. Air conditioning (which Rich's truck lacks), CD player, 4 cup holders, and most importantly a LATCH system to help secure the baby's car seat. Plus they threw in a free tank of gas and my first oil change will be free. Because Rich owns a Ford truck that had 10 payments left on it, they agreed to apply the $3000 rebate to his truck loan, so now we have one monthly car payment and his truck is paid off! The car payment is slightly higher than his truck payment was, but we can still swing it. And it cost surprisingly little to add me to his auto insurance policy. While I would have been satisfied with an older used car, it's nice to drive around not worrying that I'll blow a gasket or need to replace the alternator, whatever those terms mean. I'll post pictures of the car as soon as I have a chance. Of course I had to drive the new car home all by myself, following Rich in his truck. A nerve-wracking experience, but we both got home in one piece with no damage to the car. Yay!
So in the space of one year I've done the following, in this order:
2007's been one hell of a year.
My test was scheduled for 11:30 am last Wednesday, and it was nice & sunny out. That was important because if there's even a cloud in the sky they call it "inclement weather" and cancel or postpone all road tests. On the way to the DMV Johnny, my driving instructor, gave me some helpful pointers about changing lanes. In the past I've gotten nervous about it, spent way too long checking my blind spot and ended up doing this herky-jerky motion to get into the other lane. He had me practice a few times till I could do it smoothly. We got to the DMV and my examiner was a very nice lady. She had me back out of my parking space and head toward the road, then asked if I was pregnant. Awesome! No strangers have asked me that my entire pregnancy and I'd been feeling like I just looked fatter than usual rather than glowing and with child. That alone made my day. So she had me drive around a few side streets, where I carefully obeyed the traffic laws and maintained an appropriate speed. Then I pulled onto a main road where she had me change lanes a couple of times, so Johnny's lane-changing tutorial turned out to be well-timed. Then she directed me back to the DMV, had me pull into a parking space, and told me I'd passed. WOO HOO!!!!! I couldn't believe how easy it was. I knew they didn't test on parallel parking in Tennessee but I expected to have to back up 50 feet, do a 3-point turn, park on a hill, etc. Either I got the pregnant lady handicap or it's this easy for everyone. Regardless, I earned my little piece of plastic and am allowed to drive all by myself. I'm a big girl now, huh?
Then on Sunday I got.... A BRAND NEW CAR!!!!!!! (I've always wanted to say that, in the voice of the announcer guy on The Price Is Right. Cue me running down the aisle in a bright colored T-shirt with my big ol' pregnant boobs bouncing all over the place.)
Rich & I visited a couple of local dealerships on Saturday. I'd been envisioning a clunky 10-year-old used car that somebody's grandma drove to and from the supermarket and church. But Rich felt that a new car would be better and safer for me & the baby. We didn't find anything we really wanted on Saturday, so we tried another dealership on Sunday, specifically Crown Ford on Thompson Lane in Nashville. We told each other we weren't necessarily going to buy, we just wanted to see what was out there.
And what was out there? A 2007 Ford Focus sedan. Maroon with gray interior. Automatic transmission, 4-cylinder engine (27 mpg city/34 mpg highway) and a surprisingly roomy interior, thanks to the cab-forward design. 5 years' roadside assistance. Air conditioning (which Rich's truck lacks), CD player, 4 cup holders, and most importantly a LATCH system to help secure the baby's car seat. Plus they threw in a free tank of gas and my first oil change will be free. Because Rich owns a Ford truck that had 10 payments left on it, they agreed to apply the $3000 rebate to his truck loan, so now we have one monthly car payment and his truck is paid off! The car payment is slightly higher than his truck payment was, but we can still swing it. And it cost surprisingly little to add me to his auto insurance policy. While I would have been satisfied with an older used car, it's nice to drive around not worrying that I'll blow a gasket or need to replace the alternator, whatever those terms mean. I'll post pictures of the car as soon as I have a chance. Of course I had to drive the new car home all by myself, following Rich in his truck. A nerve-wracking experience, but we both got home in one piece with no damage to the car. Yay!
So in the space of one year I've done the following, in this order:
- Moved from Massachusetts to Tennessee with my boyfriend
- Found my first gray hair
- Graduated from massage school
- Adopted a cat
- Got pregnant
- Got engaged
- Obtained my driver's license
- And got my first car - a brand new one at that!
2007's been one hell of a year.
Labels: Driving, Milestones, Nashville
posted by Chloe @ 5:06 PM
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