Romney Takes the Wheel

When Romney turned 15 I swore we were going to have her get her driver's license in a timely manner. She was not hesitant at all and also wanted to get moving on it. Do you know when she turned 15? Naturally, in the summer of 2020. It was not an easy thing to get her an appointment to take the written test and get her permit. We finally found a spot....in Draper. The Draper DMV, by the way, is not in regular Draper. It's in SOUTH Draper. It's so far away! But we made our way out there, she passed her test, and we started driving. A little. We started out in the cemetery where she could cruise around slowly with no other cars. She started getting the hang of it and we drove on and off with her for the next few months. 

Then our plans went right out the window. School started up again and as you can tell from the previous posts, she did a major swan dive into school activities and we barely saw her after school for weeks at a time. Let's just say that not a lot of driving happened. Now it's the summer before her senior year, and though she's still 16 for another few weeks, it really is time for us to buckle down and get that dang license. She's pushing as hard as I am, so that's a good thing.

Romney and I have been doing a ton of driving together. It's a nice little getaway for us both, partly because the cars have lovely cold and dry air conditioning. In order to really get her comfortable on the road I've had her drive on two rather long trips.

First, I mentioned earlier that I took a cello to Mt. Pleasant for Peter. The reason why is too boring to get into, but I ended up needing to go back to Mt. Pleasant and pick it up. It's maybe an hour and a half away, so Romney took us down there. I was proud of her! Her first freeway merging, her first freeway driving at all. She did great. I'm going to say that speeding is not her issue at all. If she hears me say, "Speed up a little, honey," again, she's going to strangle me. Same with, "Watch your speed!" 

The first time I drove through Mt. Pleasant I was hoping to drive the two extra miles to see my cousin Joe at his Spring City pottery shop, but he was in SLC that day! Happily, when Romney and I went back down, he was around so we went to see him, get a big hug and have a nice long chat. I am so fond of my cousin. I just love him. Then of course we hit Das Cafe for reuben sandwiches before starting back home. I drove. She was wiped out!

Not long after that we had another long drive to make. Emma was going to head up to Brighton Girls camp for her first time as a camper. We invited cousin Cara to join and it was so lucky that she had that week available. We decided to meet up in Fillmore, trade kids and eat some burgers at the Iceburg. I had Romney drive on the way down there as well and again, great job. 

Here we are in Fillmore, getting ready to take a slightly nervous Cara home with us. Romney helped cheer her up, as you can see. 

So, no license yet, but she's done two of her three learning drives with the driving company, and then she'll have to do one more written test and one driving test. There is hope that she will get her license before school starts! A miracle!