My Birthday with The DMV

Posted: Jun 25, 2010

It’s been a couple of crazy days.

My birthday yesterday started out really great. I checked my personal Facebook page and there were just so many
Happy Birthday messages. Blew my mind. Thanks to everyone for the kind messages.

Around lunch time I made my way over to the ol’ Department of Motor Vehicles to renew my ancient drivers license. See, I waited until the last minute to renew, mostly because, hey, it’s the DMV.

I got in there, and to be honest, our DMV is much better and more efficient than in years gone by, I had just commented to someone that it was nice and cool in there, especially since we have been having day after fay of 98 degree heat and humidity.

So there I was. I had my call number. I was ready. One hour later, I was still ready. Just waiting. They were only two numbers away from me. I was almost there. And then it happened. The power went out. Good grief.

Thirty minutes later a lady addressed the packed room and told us power would most likely not be restored until after closing. Okay. So I headed back out into the heat with a plan to return Friday morning.

Somewhere around this time I got a call from Barry Lee Harwood, and he let me know that our friend Jo Jo Billingsley had passed away. It just knocked me for a loop. (See yesterday’s blog.)

I got back in the car to drive over to Atlanta Bread Company so I could use their wi fi to post on GRITZ. It the parking lot, the heat, stress and dehydration combined and I passed out. Hit the ground. I came to a few minutes later with four people around me asking if I was okay. After they helped me into the restaurant, I sat down and drank a few glasses of ice water. After posting, I returned home, slap worn out.

This morning I returned to the DMV at 830 am, only to find their computer system still down. I decided to sit and wait. I ended up talking to a couple of really nice girls to pass the time. Then about an hour later the system booted up and I was called up. Happy happy, joy joy.

The lady at the counter was so nice. Just a joy,. Her name is Inathe Inman, and I told her I was gonna put her in the blog. See Inathe, I told you so.

I left out of there a few short minutes later with my new license, thank God. (My picture had been renewed so many times, the photo was almost 20 years old.) Then my friend Scott took me to lunch for my birthday, and I was on my way back home. It had been a bittersweet birthday, with the loss of my friend, but a fun one too. And when Inathe told me my new license was good for ten years rather than five before. Wow. Ten years with no DMV. Something to celebrate. No offense, Inathe.

Keep it Real. Keep it Southern. Buffalo