Small Triumphs

John is home from California, safe and sound, though still a little jet-lagged! This brings about the second point in this blog: Erin successfully drove to pick him up at the airport yesterday.

Now, Erin has already written too many times about learning to drive a manual here in the Netherlands, but this triumph involved more than starting the car again after a red light. Sometimes the car's clutch sticks. This has happened several times to John, usually when he is in the stop position trying to start the car going again. Yesterday this happened to Erin just as she had gotten on the highway near our apartment, pulled over into the left lanes since the road going to the airport splits off to the left about a mile down the road, and put the car into 5th gear. And then the clutch would not come back up. Erin panicked slightly, prayed that God would not let her or anyone else die (since it was morning rush hour), and decided she had better get the car off the road before it completely lost steam in the middle of traffic...all while still trying desperately to get the clutch to come back up. She was also amused at the thought of the car stopping, blocking traffic, and having to tell Dutch people in English that the clutch was stuck. Would Dutch people understand this English phrase? Erin certainly doesn't know how to say any of this in Dutch, and "My clutch is stuck!" is not exactly the first thing a non-English-speaker would learn how to say in English. It is amazing how many things can go through your mind in a matter of seconds, especially when you are in a panicked state of being.

By the graciousness of God, Erin looked over to the right lanes to try to pull over and saw that there were no cars for a long distance so she could easily pull all the way over to the right before the car stopped and before she missed the first available exit to get off the highway. However, just as she got into the far right lane, the clutch released! Erin saw the split she needed to take to get to the airport rapidly approaching. Again God cleared the way for her to easily get all the way back over to the left lane just in time to take her left exit without hitting any other vehicle, causing a traffic jam or even soliciting honks from other drivers! The rest of the trip to the airport (all of 10 minutes) was uneventful and Erin successfully arrived in time to be at the arrivals hall when John landed in Amsterdam. Whew. We might need to take the car in for the clutch to be looked at.

Erin also triumphed in parallel parking the car last night at the apartment. John was not around to help her in this first attempt, and the space was admittedly quite large, but Erin still felt it was a small victory.

Finally, John has now also triumphed over the driver's license process. After a slight delay involving our forgetting his two passport photos at the apartment and having to return to get them, John has now turned in all his documents, photos, and money in order to receive his driver's license in the Netherlands. Erin still has not received her actual card in the mail, but we expect that anything we receive from the government will take about 3 times longer than they tell us it should take. We think this might be the last time we have to go wait in a line at a government office to start a complicated process.

It is incredible that such small things can make such a big difference in your attitude and how you feel about the week.