So much drama at the DMV

Earlier this year I lost my drivers license. So I went online to renew it and found out that my drivers license was suspended. I had received a ticket back in 2006 that I had sent, along with a check, off to a lawyer recommended to me by a friend.

I then promptly forgot about the ticket.

Unfortunately for me, the lawyer had done NOTHING with the ticket and me being without record of the check I had sent back then was left with no choice but to deal with the consequences.

(Yes, I realize I could have probably gone to the bank and had them pull up records of my checks back then... I wasn't in for that much of a hassle with this particular lawyer who later I would find out had a whole other story.)

So off I went to the courthouse to pay a ridiculous amount of money to have my license reinstated. Except then I had to make more time to go to the DMV with my very expensive piece of paper to get my actual license.

And when I went to the DMV the nice lady behind the counter said "Your license is set to expire next year, would you like to go ahead and renew it now?"

To which I enthusiastically said yes because who wants to come back to the DMV ever?

She explained that there would be a simple eye test and I'd be all ready to go.

So I looked into the little machine.

And I read the letters with both eyes.

Check.

And then she covered up my left eye and I read the letters with my right eye.

Check.

And then she covered up my right eye and asked me to read the letters.

"What letters?"

There were NO letters. There weren't even little blurry dots where letters were supposed to be. There was white space.

I tried to make something up. :)

And then the nice lady behind the counter told me we'd just reinstate my license and I had until my birthday in 2009 to get my eyes fixed to I could renew it. And if I couldn't get my eyes fixed by then I could just get a note from my eye doctor explaining why.

That's comforting.

Fast forward to last month when I lost my drivers license AGAIN.

I know, I know.

This time I just went ahead and ordered a new one online. And the system told me if I wanted to pay an extra $5 I could go ahead and renew until 2013. Which I did.

I am truly relieved that the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles has such safety regulations in place when giving licenses to propel tons of metal down our roads at high rates of speed. Lovely.

(not an actual drivers license)