A License for Fun

Is there anything worse than realizing that you've lost your driver's license? Sure. But it's a pretty frustrating moment. One I recently experienced. I was hoping I could go online to request a new one like I do when we move and change our address. NOPE. If you lose your license, you have to go apply for a new one in person. I waited a couple of days to make sure that nobody had found my license and sent it to me in the mail, because that seemed like a logical thing for somebody to do. They did not.

So last week I had the fun of driving to Denton (the closet office) to pay for a new license. Once upon a time my driver's license listed a far away date as the next time I would have to actually renew it (not just replace it)....a date far into the future....November 2013. The month I would turn 30. "Oh, that date is soooo far away," I so naively thought. Well, yikes. That month is creeping up on me these days. And since it is now a mere 6 months off, I was able to actually go ahead an renew my license instead of just replacing it. It was more expensive on that day, but saved me from having to pay for one thing now and another in a few months.

Let's talk about the fun that is the Department of Public Safety. You walk inside, "What is that smell?" you wonder to yourself. You look for where to go. There are no signs that seem appropriate for the line you want to go through. You stand there confused until a nice, fellow license renewer shares her experience. You are taken aback when a woman ahead of you in line screams a bad word at the DPS worker who told her it will be just  minute. You shake your head in disbelief when the potty-mouth woman walks out, slams the door, only to return a few minutes later with her baby, the one she illegally left in her car outside. You are left speechless when the DPS worker says to you, "Are you sure you want to go ahead and renew it? Most people wait until it's been expired for at least a year?" Umm, yes. I'm sure I want to obey the law. Either way it expires at the same time and its cheaper to renew when it's not expired. Let's stick with that option.

Thankfully I did not have a long wait. They were already calling my number to the window before I was done filling out the paperwork. I got to retake my license photo - wait, nobody told me that I couldn't have any hair covering up my eyebrows?!?!!? Apparently that's the new rule due to face recognition software. Thanks technology, I wouldn't have woken up early to fix my hair if I had known that rule.

The one true blessing that morning? I passed the vision exam. My vision is fine but I always get so nervous having to push my forehead up against the machine to read the lines that I mess up and have to retest. Ryan prepared me going into this day, reminding me to adjust it to the right height (didn't realize that was an option) and to take my time. I did perfect :)

Next time I am eligible to renew online (when I'm 36!) as long as I don't lose my license again. With any luck, I won't have to set foot in a DPS for another 12 years...when I'm 42.