the best half birthday of all time

24.

I never realized how adventurous my mom was until the day she took me to get my driver's permit.

It was on my half-birthday, so heading to the DMV made it awesome. My mom didn't even make me wait one day! Something memorable about my mom is how she made my birthdays special, and this year she made my half birthday special, too.

After I passed the written exam, we waited and waited in the line to take my photo for my permit. It felt like an eternity, but I thought it was because I was excited. No. I learned in the ensuing years to dread the brain-deadening waits at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

So anyways. We finally got my picture taken and start walking out to the car where I begin to go around to the passenger side of the car as usual. Mom says to me that it's my turn to drive. I looked at her as if she were nuts. I told her that I had no idea how to drive, and she said that now was the time. So I was pushed into driving with a permit still warm in my hand. I thought I might die, but my mother kept reassuring me that we wouldn't if I'd just pay attention and go slow.

I will never forget how I killed the car when I stopped at the first red light nor how slowly I crawled through that first green light. I think I barely made it through the intersection before the light turned red again because I kept popping the clutch and putting it into the fourth not second or first instead of third gears.  And she never yelled at me the whole way home.

It might seem like a trivial situation, but I needed to know my mom had confidence in me, and there was nothing like having me drive us home during rush hour to prove it to me. Because of her trust in me, I knew I could do it. Later on in life, I'd come to fully realize how much confidence she had in me despite my failures, and she was always there cheering me on, helping me get back on my feet.