whelp. time just keeps on cruising past, faster and faster, and well, anna is sixteen.
she has been waiting for this one, so impatiently, and for so very long. since the actual day of her birthday had lots of big plans (*potentially), the grandlidboms came over the night before to exchange gifts and have some key lime pie.
on the morning of her birthday, i picked up some dunkin donuts and attempted an official sixteenth bday photo op. this was the best i got.
then, the moment she had been waiting for… we were off to the mount airy dmv for a 10:15 road test appointment. and this is where things took a turn. upon our arrival, we were greeted by a very miserable woman, who yelled from across the room “do you have an appointment?!!”. i told her yes, that we had a 10:15 appoint (it was 10:00) and who we were. she said “we were just talking about you. the system shouldn’t have let you make an appointment because we don’t have anyone that can take you after 10am. you’ll have to come back at 1pm”.
this lady was so miserable and unpleasant and rude, but i was determined not to do anything to hurt anna’s chances of passing, so i tried to stay cool. she told me she would check anna in, but there was nothing we could do but wait. an hour from home. in mount airy. on the day of her birthday. full of nerves. while she was checking anna in, she yelled at her for cracking her knuckles.
anyways we decided to try to make a fun day out of it. we started towards mount airy, to find some thrifting or antiqueing, and some delicious lunch. we passed by a pop up flea market and decided it was the perfect distraction and time killer. once we had our fill of cool finds, we made our way to a very hole in the wall sort of mexican restaurant and ordered a complete feast. we were sure to pat ourselves on the back for our ability to make the most of this dumb situation.
around 1230 or so, we made our way back to the dmv. i popped back into the office to let them know we were back, just to be on the safe side. i was greeted with a familiar “do you have an appointment??!”. i let her know that i just wanted to make sure she knew we were back for our 1pm road test. she said “i know. i saw you in the parking lot when you got back from lunch.” unpleasant. rude. the worst. i put on my game face and went to the waiting room with anna.
around one, the unfriendly employee summoned anna and she was off. and about 10 minutes later, they came strolling back in. i asked anna how it went and she shrugged. as we were getting to the little counter/cubical area, the dmv lady started with the following statement, “oh my god, she scared me to death…” and then went on to tell me about how anna almost pulled out into oncoming traffic, not once but twice. she was sure to include that anna said she was just pulling forward a little to see better, but she didn’t think that was the truth. she told me about another grave infraction, which sounded like a miscommunication about what anna was supposed to do, resulting in an awkward (“sloppy”) lane change. i’m shortening all of this for blog purposes, but the whole explanation, which was really actually a very immature rant, went on and on. and then she said she wasn’t passing anna.
well. then. i lost it. i believe i started with the phrase, “since we are handing out feedback, i have some for you….” and brought up points about our punctuality. their administrative dysfunction. her attitude and rudeness and lack of apology. how all of this may have affected an anxious driver. she implied that i wouldn’t be saying any of this if she had passed, which was hilarious, because i had ranted to the entire waiting room of people and had posted on instagram that as soon as this test was over, whatever the result, i had some things to address. when i brought up the matter of the knucklecracking, she said “oh my god, it’s like nails on a chalkboard to me,” and this is when i got a little heated, and maybe some onlookers were concerned. i gently reminded her that she was an adult employee at the dmv and this is a nervous 16 year old kid. and that maybe her response was inappropriate. anyways. things went on for a bit. we snatched up our paperwork. i made sure everyone knew how i felt. and i hauled my distraught, on the verge of complete breakdown, birthday girl out of there, wishing the next road test victim good luck as we passed by. we may or may not have blown our horn for several whole solid minutes as we peeled out of the parking lot.
yeah. not a great day.
we came home and did a little research and happened upon many a google review that would have been nice to have seen before we chose mount airy (ironically, we chose it because it was the only dmv with a morning appointment on the day of her birthday).
anyways. with all of her big birthday plans involving driving to and fro canceled, her two besties came over to cheer her up. they ordered 27 lbs of carbs from an italian restaurant and then stood around the counter making on the fly ice cream sundaes. such good kids.
the following week, we drove to the yadkinville dmv, for a completely different experience entirely. the staff was pleasant, efficient, and kind. anna passed with flying colors. and she is officially licensed to operate a motor vehicle in the state of north carolina.
so. anna’s birthday is may 8th. that falls exactly in the middle of ap exams and final exams and general end of year mayhem. so she determined that a big party might work better once school was out. so, the weekend after classes wrapped up, it was time to properly celebrate. the fiesta began in the mid afternoon, and all of her weirdo friends rolled in and out. she forced them to play “anna jeopardy” and they all eagerly participated in karaoke. as per the usual, at some point they all ended up in the chicken coop. mostly i observed from afar, making sure to keep an endless supply of snacks, making the pizza run, and making sure the cake was served properly. i did love seeing her so happy with all of her pals. she’s found a good little crew and it’s just great.
only a handful of teens ended up staying the night. i think they separated into two tents. there was a sleeping tent. and an up all night tent. of course both tents were pitched as far from the house as possible. in the morning, when i came down at 530 am, i noticed that there were two teens huddled in a camp chair, next to the lingering campfire coals, foraging through a paper bag of snacks. i revived the fire and offered them coffee and breakfast and then left them alone to see if they could survive on their own.
once all of the teens were awake, they made their way inside for some more carb based sustenance. slowly they all trickled back out and the house fell quiet. anna slept most of the day, which is the sign of a great birthday.
and that’s the tale of the sixteenth birthday of the middle kid.
this is where i would post a lovely little bit about the actual birthday kid, so i’ll just steal what i wrote on instagram and repurpose it here:
happy 16th(!!) birthday to this beloved middle kid.
the anna baby is aggressively chalant and full of joy and whimsy.
she’s smart and studious, snarky and witty, creative and curious, adventurous and fun. she is a wonderful friend and a pretty great sister, but that might depend on which other lidkid you ask.
she loves theater and music, thrifting and antique shopping, and eating all manner of snacks and treats. she is an avid collector of vinyl records, cassettes, and cds, and likes to make mix tapes for her friends, even if she then also has to buy them a tape player to accompany them.
anna’s fashion style is unique. unpredictable. colorful. a thing to behold. (and thankfully mostly thrifted).
i could go on and on, waxing poetic about what a cool kid and lovely a human she is turning into, but i’m trying to get this posted on her actual birthday, so i guess ill call it.
happy birthday anna. aren’t we, like, best friends?!?