So the summer I turned 16, I went down to the local DMV office one afternoon to get my

learner's permit. I was super excited. It was all fired up, ready to go. And after handing in on my

documents, my Social Security card, my birth certificate, things like that, I made my way into this

little exam room for the seeing- portion of the exam when an older gentleman

walked in the room a little bit on the grumpy side sat down and just kind of barked out at me

read the third line down from left to right and don't stop until i tell you so i look at this seeing

eye chart find the third line down start calling out the letters i see, L, P, F, C, A, Z, all the way down

the page. So eventually he gets this really confused look on his face and says, son, what in the

world are you doing? Try that again. So this time I start to get a little bit nervous. I start

calling out the same letters I see L, P, F, C, A, Z, until eventually he stops me and says,

Son, in my 34 years, I've never seen anyone miss every single letter before, go get yourself

some glasses, you failed.

Now, up until this point, I'd always assumed I had pretty good vision.

Wasn't exactly expecting a trip to the optometrist that afternoon, but I knew if I wanted to get my license, this is my only option. Well, a few hours later, the doctor runs some tests. She comes out with a big smile on her face and says, congratulations, you have great vision. Close to perfect, actually, you've got nothing to worry about, writes me a note note sends me back to the dmv well this time

i go with my dad who walks up to the clerk's desk and said hey my my son failed the seeing eye portion

the exam yesterday a doctor checked him out they said everything was fine she looks at my dad kind of

confused and says they said he was fine and my dad said yeah yeah the doctor ran some tests wrote him this note saying he has good vision, doesn't need glasses. I don't really know what the problem was. She paused for a moment. There's awkward silence as they stared at each other, her not really knowing what to do next. And after a moment, I watched as this clerk kind of motion for my dad to lean in. And through this little glass window, I overheard this woman look at my dad and say,

sir, maybe your son's just not a strong reader.

And I'll admit, I did not end up going to college, okay?

But if that woman is watching, I just want her to know close to 20 years

later, I'm still very confident in my ability to recognize letter P when I see one. Thank you.

It's like, give me a break, lady. My eyes probably aren't as good as it used to be.

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