Another step of our journey today.
I don't really want to call it a milestone, but I suppose it is marking another mile in our journey.
Rob's driver's license was expiring soon, so we needed to renew it. He has been driving since LONG before he had a license. When he was in 5th grade, his teacher called his dad and said, "do you know he's driving to school?!?!" and Rob Sr says, "well, yeah, how else is he supposed to get there?!"
🤣
On the first day of Driver's Ed, his driving partner wrecked the car coming out of the school parking lot! 🤔 When it was Rob's turn to drive, after a couple of minutes, the teacher said, "umm...you've driven a lot before, haven't you" After that, Rob never drove during driver's ed. He sat in the back while his driving partner got double time.
As a diesel mechanic for a trucking company, he often took trucks for drives up and down the road to help diagnose problems and see if they were repaired. He went ahead and got his CDL. For 27 years he drove big rigs, dump trucks, transfer trucks, side dumpers, tankers, septic pumpers, you name it. He had several endorsements.
But...4 years ago, the neurologist told him "no more driving."
Today we went in and downgraded his CDL all the way down to an ID card. He no longer has a Driver's License. What a weird stepping stone for him.
Rob has always taken "mug shot" photos for his license - and anything else - so his new photo cracks me up. The gentleman helping us today was VERY patient with all of Rob's involuntary movements, head tilt, closed eyes, moving his gum around in his mouth, and overloading the system by taking too many photo attempts, but he eventually decided this one would work! 🤣🤩
The gentleman hated dropping Rob all the way from a CDL/tanker/etc. to an ID. He kept saying how much he hated to do it. He even took a long pause before he punched holes in Rob's now expired CDL. The finality of it all was a visible weight on his shoulder as he took a deep breath, shook his head, and punched the license. Thank you, kind sir.
Rob said he liked driving dump trucks the best. Even the time he missed a Deacon's meeting because he got stuck behind THREE different cattle drives near Wilsall in a side-dumper. He hated to see his CDL and driver's license go. I encouraged him by saying at least he can still have a Real ID in case we ever fly anywhere (highly unlikely).
As soon as I mentioned flying, he mumbled something about Alaska. He LOVED our time up there. I STILL cannot thank everyone who made that trip so special for us. The anonymous donor who sent us on the trip. All my cousins & family who opened homes, fed us meals, gave us vehicles to drive so I didn't have to move the motorhome around, took us to church, and one of Rob's favorites - bush pilot flight with Bruce over Denali and back. Thank you!! And our friends Chuck and Amy- you MADE his trip with a bucket list day out of Whittier - glaciers, porpoises, otters, salmon...being attacked by seagulls 🤣 AND Chuck and Hunter helping him catch a salmon on a fly rod in the Kenai River. He still talks about it. That is a memory he won't lose easily. There are many others to thank as well. What a great trip that was.
Not sure I'll ever be able to get him back on a plane with all of his symptoms, but at least he now has a REAL ID if we want to try it.
It was a strange but still good day. God is good, all the time. So glad He is the one leading us on this journey and walking us through it step by step. To God be the glory.
No comments:
Post a Comment