Birthday Gifts

There are two things I am very thankful for on this my 58th birthday. They are glasses and a driver's license. Both of these items I had to wait and/or work for and that is why I am so appreciative of them.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I had cataract surgery on my right eye on January 29 and on my left eye on February 12. Although the cataract surgeries were successful and I am so pleased with the result, I spent the last 6 weeks using reading glasses because my doctor wanted to wait 4 weeks after the second surgery to give me a new prescription. It was so incredibly annoying to carry reading glasses with me everywhere I went and to put them on and off every time I switched from reading to distance. I have a new understanding and sympathy for Steve who loses his reading glasses at least once a day. I couldn't believe how often I set them somewhere and then couldn't remember where and had to search for them. Finally, on Wednesday, March 7, I went back to my surgeon and he updated my glasses prescription. I went right to Hocke Optical and ordered my new glasses and lenses. On Monday, as I was driving to work, I got a call from them that my glasses were ready. I immediately detoured and went to pick them up. Words cannot adequately express how thankful I am to have glasses back on my face all the time and for the clear eyesight that I now have. It is truly a gift that I appreciate!

Four years ago in early 2014, when my driver's license was up for renewal, I tried to process it online and I was denied because the social security number I gave did not match with the one they had on file. Irritated, I mailed in my check and received the card back which authorized me to go to the DMV to get my picture and my new license. At the DMV I asked how my social security number could be wrong and what I had to do to correct the problem. They informed me that a data entry person must have typed my number wrong when they were imputing social security numbers and adding them as a requirement to everyone's driver's license. If I brought my social security card in as proof they would be able to correct it in their system. That sounded easy enough, but I had lost my social security card years ago so it meant I would have to go to the Social Security Office to get a new one. I figured I had four years until my next renewal so put it on the back burner of my mind to do sometime. 

After Megan got married in 2015, she mentioned that she needed to go to the Social Security Office to get her last name changed. I jumped at the chance and asked if she minded if I tagged along and got a replacement for my card. We went together and I soon received my new Social Security card in the mail. I filed it in a safe place and figured that sometime before 2018, I would stop at the DMV and get them to make the correction. Of course I never got there and in January I received my driver's license renewal in the mail. I knew better than to try renewing online so in late February I sent them a check, thinking that I would receive my card in the mail like I did four years ago allowing me to go to the DMV for my new license. WRONG!! They cashed my check, but I received a notice from them on Monday of this week, that I would not be able to renew my license until I proved with my Social Security card that I was indeed who I said I was.

I only had 4 days until my current license expired so on Tuesday I decided to go to the DMV before work. I walked in around 8:45 and the place was packed. Practically every seat was filled and the line was to the door with people waiting. I didn't have that much time, so I left. When I got to work, I told my coworker Elaine how full the DMV office had been and that I hadn't been able to stay. She suggested that I try the Oxford office which was only about 20 minutes from work and very rarely had much of a wait time. I called the DMV center and told them my problem and asked if any DMV center would be able to correct my Social Security number or if I had to go to the Lancaster office. The man assured me that any DMV office would be able to help me. I drove to Oxford which turned out to be a very tiny office only to be told that they could  not correct my Social Security number. Only Lancaster or Harrisburg could to do that. Why do they have someone telling you incorrect information over the phone? Needless to say, I was beginning to get very frustrated. 

I was determined to get this problem solved once and for all, so made the decision to leave work early and head back to the Lancaster DMV. Surely, it wouldn't be as full as it had been in the morning. Wrong again! I got there about 2:50 and groaned when I saw all the people, but this time I wasn't going to leave. I told the gentleman at the desk why I was there and he gave me a number but said that the guy in the booth at the end might be able to help me. It was an express line and as I stood behind the one man who was in line before me I hoped desperately that would be the case. I glanced at the number I had been given and it was 744. They were now waiting on 631. Over 100 people were still in front of me if I had to use that number! 

I explained to the gentleman in the booth what I needed and he kind of grimaced and said he wasn't sure if he could help me. He muttered and punched in a bunch of stuff on the computer and finally came back and told me that there was a block on my license that only Harrisburg could remove. He had corrected the Social Security number but until Harrisburg removed the block, they couldn't process my renewal. He said that he would send a request to Harrisburg and I would just need to wait my turn and hope that by the time my number was called, Harrisburg would have cleared me. With a huge sigh of disappointment I sat down between two gentleman in the crowded waiting room. It was 3:05 and they were now waiting on number 639. The gentleman on my left said that he had been there since 1:00 and his number was 668. The center closed at 4:30 and I wondered what happened then. The guy said they told him they would lock the doors at 4:30 but finish waiting on everyone who was there. I figured it would be between 7:00 and 8:00 until my number was called and with my luck, Harrisburg wouldn't have done anything with the guy's request. I had been scheduled to meet with someone at 4:30 but I texted them and told them we would need to reschedule. I texted Steve and told him I wouldn't be home for a long time. Then I settled down to wait. 

After about ten minutes of waiting, the guy in the express booth looked out over the crowd and said, "Is Mary Lehman still here?" I jumped out of my seat and went to his window. He said that Harrisburg had removed the block and he would process my renewal! Hallelujah! I was ecstatic. He typed everything up and then asked if I was prepared to pay the renewal fee. I explained that I already had and he asked if I had proof. Thankfully I had thought ahead and had a copy of the cancelled check along which I showed him. Believe me if I hadn't had it with me, I would have just gladly paid the $30.00 again! He handed me my renewal card and told me to go over to the side that takes the pictures and issues the licenses. Gratefully I took the card, went over to the picture side and within twenty minutes I was on my way out the door with my new license that doesn't expire until 2022! 

It certainly shows that I am getting old, when the two things I am most thankful for are driving privileges and glasses. It reminds me of something that a very elderly person would be thankful for. But you know what? I would rather be 58 with glasses and a driver's license than 30 and blind with no driving privileges. I'll take these two "birthday gifts" and be happy!