License to Drive

This is my first driver’s license:

That’s me at 16 years old. No smile; I had already started hating having my picture taken. As you can see in the Issued field, I got this the summer of 1983, before my junior year of high school.

I was tan, wasn’t I? And check out that hair — compare it to my younger pics posted previously. My hair started darkening from the bright blonde when puberty started kicking in. It also started to curl. It was already starting to wave by the time I had this license picture taken. By my senior year in high school, my hair curled so much over the summer that some of my classmates thought I had gotten a perm. My hair has remained curly, ever since. I keep it pretty short nowadays, so the curl is not as immediately noticeable, but if I let it grow out more than a month, you can see the waving.

Back to the driver’s license:

My first car was a Honda Civic I dubbed “The Tangerine” because it was a great orange color. I shared it with my step-sister for about a year until it was destroyed.

This car was my favorite, (until my current SUV):

A late-80s Nissan 200SX. A smooth sports car that I paid for myself, (with my dad’s signature on the loan papers). I got this when I was 19 years old, and I loved this thing. Loved it! I drove it for almost 10 years, and I always felt cool in it, despite its age. When it was time to get something newer, I ended up giving it away to a woman my dad knew who couldn’t afford to buy a car, but needed something reliable.

Where my dad had his favorite cars, (a 1985 Monte Carlo, and a 1955 Chevy), this one was mine. Heck, my dad even really liked this car. Every time I came home from college, we’d wash it in his backyard. (The above pic was taken in his backyard after such a washing.) He made sure it was always properly serviced and checked out, too. He had a mind for that kind of thing, and I know I have him to thank for it lasting as long as it did.

It’s no coincidence that both of my favorite vehicles of my life, this old blue 200SX and my current red Mariner, were both found by my dad. Our tastes were similar, and he had a mind for such things.

Bullgrit