Tangling with bureaucracy

    Turkey burger with souvlaki flavorings
Really good, a keeper recipe

It wasn’t as bad as I feared. I had to go today to get an official identification card from the State of Texas. My driver’s license expired over a year ago on my 82^nd birthday. At that age, you cannot renew online but are required to appear in person at the Department of Motor Vehicles and either convince them that you are cognizant enough to drive or take a driver’s test.

Before online renewal was possible, going in person to renew my license always gave me the willies (I get them too easily). I felt like a kid going for a test I was about to fail. The eyesight test became a particular hurdle for me, partly I think as I developed cataracts, and I’d get so nervous I’d botch it. I let the whole driver’s license thing become a “big thing” in my mind.

With that history, I approached that significant birthday. We were in the midst of pandemic, and I was not driving because I was not going anywhere—we quarantined. So, masked or not, I did not want to go to the DMV and sit in a crowded waiting room for who knows how long. I simply ignored the whole thing. My kids were all okay with my not driving—maybe even relieved. Jordan was always afraid when I went places alone that I would be so preoccupied getting my walker in or out of the car that I wouldn’t be aware of my surroundings and would get mugged.

But with vaccination and the relative safety of moving about in the world, it began to occur to me I’d like to have some identification—to vote, if nothing else. I’d heard you can vote with your passport, but I wasn’t sure I trusted it. So I went online, waded through the complicated DMV web site, found the directions, and made an appointment. Every time they gave me a date and time, I’d check with Jordan to see if she could take me, and by the time I went back to the web site, that slot had been filled. Finally, I made a morning appointment—at an office at least twenty minutes and twenty miles away—for today, 10:20. That was months ago, and I put it out of my mind.

This week it dawned on me that Jacob has a golf tournament today. Jordan had to have him at the course, twenty minutes in the other direction, at 6:15 a.m. I thought perhaps she would stay or be too harried to take me. I think a part of me was secretly hoping we could reschedule the DMV for another three or four months away. No such luck: with too much enthusiasm, she said, “I can take you!”

The day was sunny and not too hot, and the trip was pleasant. We took crossed Lake Worth on Loop 820 and marveled at the view—the blue lake up close and way in the distance the now-tiny tall buildings of downtown. It was like seeing two disparate worlds at once. With one “Oops,” we found the office and arrived ten minutes early.

The facility was clean, most people were masked, chairs in the waiting room were distanced—I thought it would all be okay. The online directions were so intimidating—if you’re ten minutes late, you lose your slot—that I hoped they’d take us on time. Not so. But the wait was less than thirty minutes. Jordan and I thought masks were a requirement for both staff and the public, but as we waited, I saw more and more unmasked people, and I found myself resenting them, angry even. We’ve had such high controversy in Fort Worth over masks, while our numbers of new cases and deaths have skyrocketed, that I really am alert to who cares about others and who doesn’t.

The representative who talked to us was young, relatively new to the job, and thrilled to meet an author—that part made my day. But she spoke softly and rapidly, and Jordan had to take over the session. I recognized an old feeling—people see an elderly woman with a walker, and they don’t talk to her but talk around her to whoever is with her. It’s a little like being invisible. Jordan had to sign an affidavit confirming my address because utility bills no longer come in my name. She even signed my name, which she does a lot, until the young woman said no, I had to sign in person. And then Jordan insisted I had to put on lipstick for the picture. I worried all along that the voluminouos documentation we brought would not satisfy their strict requirements, but all was well. By 11:30 we were headed home, greatly relieved to have this behind us. In two weeks, I should once again be official in the State of Texas.

Tonight, relaxation. Jean came for supper, and I fixed souvlaki-flavored turkey burgers with tzatziki, broccoli, and leftover potato cakes. Jean and I loved them; Jordan missed eating with us and ate an hour later because she got caught at the golf tournament. No matter because Jacob is doing well.