My Monday Morning

Let me tell you about my Monday morning. Spent at the DMV. Could there be a worse place on earth? Let me back this story up three years though so you can really understand my frustration.

Confession: I have been married for almost three years now and I still have not changed my name. (!!) I know that's awful but I did try shortly after we got married. I waited in that long line and handed them everything I was told to bring but the woman said that my wedding certificate wasn't the right one. It was the one issued by the temple and not the one issued by the state (which they NEVER gave us) and so it wasn't valid. Sheesh. Ok. That was obviously really frustrating but it was like, whatever, I don't need my name changed right away anyway. So there.

And I really didn't. It really hasn't been a problem at all not having my name changed. Until now. Steve's parents are flying us up to Washington during Steve's next break in August and the name they put on the ticket was our last name and not my maiden name. Obviously. Because I don't go by my maiden name so no one knew that I haven't changed my name yet.

So Steve and I were looking at this as a good motivation to finally just get my name changed and finally get a Texas drivers license since I can't get on that plane unless my drivers license matches the name on the ticket. So this morning, we got up early and got ready and headed to the DMV and as we drove up, shortly before 9 am, there was already a line out the door. A line out the door!! We got in that line which was a line so you could get a number so you could get in another line. The guy who gives you your number is also there to find out what you need exactly and to make sure that you have everything with you that you will need once you get to the end of the other line. He looked over everything and said we were good so we got in that other line, which really is just a huge waiting room where you watch a screen call numbers and where you hope every time they call a new number that it will be yours. Because they DO NOT GO IN ORDER. Which is really really annoying because you never know when your number is going to be called. No one dares leave or go to the bathroom for fear of missing their number being called. I guess they just really like to keep you on your toes.

Steve and I took turns taking Cole out and letting him run around because he could only handle sitting in one spot for so long. After the first 30 minutes he had already eaten all of his food. And he just didn't get that he couldn't  touch/hang/grab on random people. Most people think he's cute when he does that but at the DMV, not so much.

ANYWAY, our number finally did get called. After 2 plus hours, I went up to desk number three with all my documents and papers and started pulling them out and giving them to the guy and before I knew it he was telling me something about my birth certificate. 

Did you know that there is a hospital issued birth certificate and a state issued birth certificate?! I didn't know that there was a difference or why it mattered if it was from the state or the hospital or why they needed a birth certificate at all! Why did they need proof of birth?! I was standing right there in front of him, proof enough that I was born, with a Utah drivers license, not expired, my SOCIAL SECURITY CARD with my married name on it and so much more and he was telling me that my birth certificate wasn't valid because it was issued by the hospital and not by the state and that I couldn't get a Texas drivers license until I showed him my state-issued birth certificate which I didn't even know existed or where I would even go to get one. 

What I want to know is: 

*Why in the world do the hospitals even issue birth certificates if the the DMVs don't take them? 

*How have I gotten by 25 years with a hospital issued birth certificate?

*How did I get my Utah drivers license?

*How did I get my social security card?! Shouldn't it be harder to get a SScard than a drivers licence?!

I realize that there are no answers to these questions. I know, because I tried asking him. But he was just a worker. He had no idea. I can't really be mad at him because he was just doing the protocol. He just told me over and over and over that my birth certificate wasn't a state issued one. Seriously, that was all he said. And then he wrote down a site I could go to to find my state issued birth certificate. Thanks a lot. (www.vitalrecords.com, which is a really dumb site, by the way) And so, as I realized that he wouldn't/couldn't help me, I started to gather up all of my documents and I just couldn't help the tears from coming. I cried right there in front of him (and I've never done anything like that before) and still he couldn't help me out. Just the thought of having to come back, sooner than later, and wait in line for at least 2 hours with a birth certificate I didn't know how to get, it just bothered me soooo bad. I was SO mad. I haven't been that mad in a long long time. Which is probably why I took the time to write all of this out. Ha.

I know that it's no one's fault. I can't really be mad at anyone, it's just the most frustrating thing ever. And hopefully next time I go back, like whenever I get that birth certificate, I will finally be able to get my name changed and a Texas license. I mean, it's just kind of getting ridiculous, right?!