Permitted

Yesterday I took my almost sixteen year old daughter to the MVA to get her learner's permit to operate a motor vehicle. She started driver's training school last week and we have to tally some actual driving hours to pass the fourteen week course ( I say 'we' because she's not allowed behind the wheel without a licensed adult family member).

A couple of things I'd like to note:
Maybe it's me, but I am completely floored by the fact that a teenager, or any potential new driver for that matter, can be handed a driving permit without actually having spent any time in the driver's seat. My memory is fuzzy, but I think when I went through driver's ed a thousand years ago, you had to complete the entire driver's training course before you earned your permit. Times have changed, apparently!
Also, in order to get the permit, my daughter had to bring, along with her birth certificate and social security card, her school attendance record. MVA officials told me it had to be in a sealed envelope with the school seal stamped on front. Fine, no problem. I certainly understood their concern about kids tampering with the paperwork in order to get a permit. However...

The clerk behind the counter took the envelope from my daughter and immediately eyed it suspiciously.
"I'm going to have to find two of my superiors to confirm this envelope hasn't been opened," she said. "I'll be right back."
Mom, I did not open that envelope," said my daughter, sensing my presumed guilty before being found innocent stance on anyone under the age of twenty. "It's been in my backpack for a week."
This explained its less than stellar appearance.
Fortunately, the Motor Vehicle Gestapo deemed the envelope untouched and my daughter breezed through the vision and written exams, and walked out the door with her new driver's permit in hand.
And now the fun begins...