My Department of Motor Vehicles Saga

Back in March of this year, Josiah and I took a trip to GA by ourselves. I don't like going by myself and just Josiah, but if I do, I always try to make as few stops as possible and get there as quickly as I can. So, I was about 2 hours from my parent's home, just inside the GA state line and I needed to stope and get gas. I decided to pay at the pump so I wouldn't have to get Josiah out of the car, but while I was pumping, I decided to open the back door to play with JoJo. I eventually got back in the car and left, got a couple of exits down and decided to get a drink at Starbuck's, when to my horror, I can not find my wallet AT ALL!! I panicked and drove as fast as I could back to my previous location to search for my wallet. We went inside at the gas station to see if anyone found it, I looked around outside and it was no where. I searched the car from top to bottom hoping beyond all hope that I dropped it inside the car, but it was no where. I had to face the facts, I must have laid my wallet on top of the car when I was playing with JoJo and then forgot about it and drove off. Even worse than this, I had to call my dad and tell him how stupid I had been. Dad was sweet about it, but I can hear the police officer wheels churning in his head thinking about all of the times he had told me to protect myself and belongings, etc., etc. Well, it gets worse. I had some business to attend to in GA and needed my birth certificate and SS Card with me to do it, and where do you think it was? It was ALL in my wallet, the dumbest place on earth for it all. I had to have my DH wire me money the next day and I had to cancel my bank cards, etc., and hear from family members about the ridiculousness of the situation. On top of that all, I had absolutely no form of identification on me whatsoever! Okay, so the next line of action was to replace the items I had lost, namely my Driver's license, SS card and Birth certificate, right? You would think it would be easy, right? Keep reading...

So, I get back home and I was told my the DMV that in order to get my license replaced I had to have two forms of ID and it could be 2 of these four things: SS Card, Birth certificate, Passport, or marriage certificate. Well, I didn't have what it took, so I turned to the SS Administration thinking I could use my marriage certificate and ss card when it was reissued. Well, at the SS Admin., they must work in conjunction with the DMV to not help people out, because in order to get my SS Card replaced, what do you think I had to have? Right...two forms of identification out of the same four listed by the DMV, which I STILL DON'T HAVE!!! So, next plan, get a copy of my birth certificate from the state of GA and use that in conjunction with my marriage certificate. Sounds easy enough, right? Think again! I ordered my birth certificate for $50 and got it in the mail in about 3 weeks, then went to pull our marriage certificate out of our strong box, where we thought we had it, but what do you think? You are right, again! It is not there. So, I write to the county court where we obtained our license and asked them to send me a duplicate copy for $5. So, a few days later this really nice lady called and said there was not a marriage certificate on file for us. WHAT?!?!? She said she saw where we had applied for a license but never sent in for the certificate. She told me she could send the license back to the preacher who married us for him to sign and validate, then she could issue the certificate to us. Dear old Uncle Jimmy signed that paper and promptly returned it for us. In the meantime, I spoke with the DMV commissioner dude who informs me that I have to have the actual birth certificate, not a duplicate copy. The SS Admin tells me the same thing. The commissioner of the DMV tells me to get the marriage license and then call him back and he would see if he could further help me then. Finally, we seemed to be getting somewhere!!! I got the marriage license and called him. He said that he has been given the authority to go ahead and file for my replacement license, then he asked me for my customer number from my driver's license. Huh??? I explained I didn't have it because my DL was lost. He tells me he can not help me with anything without my customer number and that he can not give out the number to me, it is something I have to provide to him for security. Okay, so I asked him how I could get my customer number and he said I would have to get it from my DL! I was dumbfounded at the stupidity!!! I told him I thought it was the dumbest thing I had ever heard and eventually just hung up on him. But, guess what? Yesterday I was going through some paperwork and I found a letter from the DMV that my husband had requested from them shortly after I lost my wallet. The letter was just a statement to say that I had a good record and no outstanding incidences and stuff like that. Guess what was at the top of this letter! My Customer Number!!! So, $10 and 3 minutes later, after 7 months of trying to get my DL replaced and drive as little as possible, I ordered my replacement card from the internet. The many lessons I learned are good ones. Everyone listen carefully:

• Do not EVER leave your wallet on top of your car
• If you do, do not drive off without picking it back up
• Do not store all of your personal identification in one place! NEVER store SS Card, DL or birth certificate together and definitely do not store in your wallet
• Send in for your marriage certificate as soon after you get married as possible
• If your DL # on your card is different than your SS #, write it down in a safe place for incidents like this!
• Listen to your parents...especially if one is a policeman who deals with this kind of crud on a regular basis!

Okay, I feel better now that I have vented and I hope you learn something from my very stupid mistake/s!