My father has officially been retired now for about a month, give or take a couple days. During that time my mother, my husband and me have been seeing him less than when he was working. He's either working out, refereeing ballgames or who knows what else. My mother said that most wives complain that their newly retired husbands are always around and getting on their nerves. She's exactly the opposite.

For the last few months my father talked about getting a job as a two town bus driver. To tell the truth, I can't picture my father doing that. He's not the best driver. He likes to look at everything but the road when he drives. He speeds on roads that you have no business speeding on. Not to mention he likes taking the long way to get anywhere. My husband and I are both a little scared to ride with him. One time about 12 years ago, we were on vacation and my father wasn't sure which was the right side of the road to be on and he guessed. His little guess had us going the wrong way and he quickly pulled over and turned around. That was actually the highlight of the day.

We told my father that if he wanted to do this he would need a special commercial license. He of course insisted he didn't and said we were wrong. Oh so I guess my Driver's ED. teacher was lying?? You can't tell your parents they are wrong. It does no good at all. They deny it and get mad at you. Anyways, we told my mother that my father would need a special license. She said "No I don't think he will. They are begging for drivers." They may be begging for them but I don't think they are going to just let anyone who walks up and says "I want to drive a bus." do it. My brother in law drove a van for a hotel, transporting the guests to and from the airport. He needed a special license and he wasn't driving a big 60 seated breadbox. My parents both insisted that my father would not need a special license because the bus he would be driving was a single axle. Whatever that meant. I didn't see what that had to do with it and I still don't.

My father got a job interview with the company and I think he thought he would get the job instantly and they'd put him on a bus within minutes. No such luck. It was 2 weeks before they even called to tell him he got it. But they called, and said he would need to come in and take some classes, do some training and get certified. Hmm, that sounds familiar. I believe my husband and I said something very similar to that. We of course wanted to gloat that we were right, but in a polite way. Wouldn't you know my father STILL insisted he was right?? We told him that we had warned him he would need a special license. He said "No, that's not what this is. It's just a few classes and a bit of training and then I'll be able to start." Excuse me, but how is that different from what we said?? Why do parents just refuse to admit they are wrong?? It's like it's a violation of the parents' handbook.

I figured my father would do all right for the classes. He studies every year to be recertified as a referee and he usually gets one of the highest scores in the area. The other day though my mother said my father wasn't studying at all and she was worried that he wouldn't do well. I was still optimistic.

He had his first class yesterday and took the written tests and he failed BADLY!! He refused to say how many he got wrong. He just said "too many". I'm interpreting that to mean if a curve had been given he still would have failed. He has another chance tomorrow and he will be allowed to keep taking the test until he passes or next Tuesday. Whichever comes first. Now that bothers me. Is it a good idea to let someone be a driver if they keep failing the test and happen to get lucky one time?? Maybe it wasn't even luck that would get them to pass it, maybe it's just that they memorized the answers. Who do you worry more about?? The people in the bus or not in the bus??

My mother actually seemed a little surprised at hearing that my father had failed the test. I told her she shouldn't be because she said he hadn't been studying. She said "I never said that." Umm, I know I'm not losing my hearing yet and my husband heard it too. She insisted she NEVER said that. Now maybe she's gone a little crazy lately or maybe she didn't want my father to find out she had said that. I don't know. It's quite annoying though. This incident goes back to parents refusing to admit when they are wrong.

My father has been studying a lot lately and even plans to study all evening tonight. I hope he passes but I'm not quite as optimistic as I was before.