DMV Oct. 8, 2018

 DMV

This October my drivers license was set to expire.  I have not been in a DMV in many, many years.  But as I feared, when I got the letter they said this year you must go in and get a new picture, thumb print ant take the eye test.  Oh great!  Well too early to make an appt. now, who knows what I will be doing that week now (a few months earlier).  I have never made an appt. before, but I see the long lines on t.v. and think they must be ones without appts.  I won't do that, 3 weeks should be enough time to get an appt.  Right?  Well I kept forgetting and it was 15 days before it expired when I remembered to go on line to make an appt.   The first one they offered me was 3 days after it was to expire.  2nd was 8 weeks later, 3rd was the month after that!   I had no idea!  I was afraid to drive with an expired license.  I just kept trying for the next week hoping something would open up.  I tried the 3 offices closest to me.  Also checked the wait times, which varied greatly, but was not in a position to just head over if a short wait showed up.  I was to drive to Orange county the day after my license expired.  They will give you a ticket for breathing wrong.  I was getting no where with the appts. 

So the day before it was to expire, first day of my week off, I got up early to take my car in the shop.  Not happy about it, but wanted to get my brakes checked before I drove it much more.  They checked, cleaned and adjusted it, said they just had some air in the lines that they bled out.  Only felt a little better, not what I paid better, but had some piece of mind about them being ok.  Got out fairly early, did a little shopping, got a snack and headed to the DMV to start my wait.  

I was super nervous.  Just being there!  Plus my eyes are not great.  I was super near sighted when I was younger.  HATED wearing glasses SO much.  Tried contacts, but after a couple years I could not wear any more, then back to glasses.  Eventually I had surgery to improve my eyesight.  My right eye has never responded like it was expected.  But eventually it did improve enough I was able to get the hated "must wear corrective lens" off of my license.

Well, I guess I did not realize your eyes will continue to change, and eventually I was not seeing good enough.  Had more surgery, but again right eye did not respond as expected.  Had only recently had surgery when I last went to the DMV.  I managed to squeak through passing but just barely.  I see well enough with both eyes.  I see well enough with my left eye, but my right eye alone is the problem.  Luckily I do not drive with one hand over my left eye.

Cataract surgery a few years ago with a lens implant was to restore my distance vision in right eye.  It did not.  I can read close up with it, but no distance. 

So very nervous.  I think while I am there I will get the Real ID license that will be needed for flying in a year (or two), just in case.  Have not flown in years, but you never know.  Dig out my birth certificate, Social Security card, proof of address, think I am all set for that at least.  Get there and they want my marriage certificate.  "I am not married."  Well how did you go from the name on your birth certificate to the name on your social security card?  "Well, when I got married, I sent in a copy of the marriage certificate to SS and they sent me a SS card with that name on it, and now 40 years after my divorce I am still using that name."  Nope you can not get the Real ID without your marriage certificate, EVEN 40 YEARS after your divorce!  Quite annoyed about that.  Ok, fine, just do regular for now, it will expire tomorrow.  I will have to come back later to try the real id again.  

On to the dreaded eye test.  The letters are REALLY tiny and quite a ways behind the person on the other side of the counter.  No, not a standard eye chart.  

I read enough to pass with both eyes (no glasses) and with my left eye (no glasses), but not even close with just my right eye.  Try it with the glasses I had with me.  (the ones I keep in my car to wear when I drive at night, or if I am looking for an address-I can see it a few feet sooner, but for general in my area day time driving, they do not seem necessary).  I did a bit better with both and with left, and maybe got a couple correct with my right eye, but not nearly enough.  She tries the machine on the counter, but still no pass.  "But I don't drive with my good eye covered"!!!!  I will give you a 59 day extension. Here is a form to take to your eye Dr. to have them fill it out, and bring it back.  Maybe they will proscribe new glasses and you can try again.  If I still don't pass?   (glaucoma has destroyed some receptor cells in that eye.  I have lost a lot of my color vision and not sure a different prescription will be enough).  Well then they might take you on a driving test, and see how you do on the road.   Terror!  I am a decent driver, but have not taken a driving test in so long!  Just the idea makes me so nervous I can barely think or think I can drive well.  

No ones wants to loose their license.  But I am still working, I live alone, have no family in the area, and there are no buses, or trains in my area.  Terrified.  What if I don't pass?!  I will have to take early retirement, and I will have to sell my house and move where there are buses.  I probably can't afford it and may end up homeless.  I am really in a panic.

I realize that the RX in the glasses I had with me, was not the most recent.  Last year I was so busy between my eye exam in Nov. and Christmas, getting new glasses was going to have to wait until that week between Christmas and New Years.  8:00 PM New Years Eve  it hit me.  Oh no, I forgot to go get new glasses!  There goes this years eye glass benefit down the tubes.  Yes, I could have gone in after the first of the year, but thought, now there is no hurry, I may just wait until my annual fall exam. 

I did get new lenses the year before.  I kept them in the other car, for those times I was using that one, and was not going to make it home before dark.  Tried comparing those with the ones I wore.  Slightly better, probably still not enough to pass.

Get in to see the eye Dr. with my form to fill out.  I am still so nervous I am jabbering non stop while he is trying to fill it out and examine my eyes.  He says he is surprised that I did not pass.  My eyes have not changed that much.  Yes, I am able to read what he asks me to with the lens he has selected.  But it seems to me that the letters are bigger and closer than at the DMV chart.  I am like,  Not good enough.  "I need to be able to see through walls with these!".   

The next week I take the new, only slightly different RX to two different eye wear places.  I was going to use my insurance benefit for a fancy new pair of progressives.  (for those times when driving when I have to read a map, or things like that).  And a cheaper pair of single vision distance (no adjustment time needed) to go take my test with.

The next week I gather up the new glasses.  When I try them on and do not immediately see way better with just my right eye, both places said it may take from a few minutes to an hr. for your eyes to fully adjust to seeing their best in them.  Could all this have been prevented in I had worn my glasses for the entire hour I was waiting?  But I can't stand them on my face that long, or walk with them, or look at people.  They bug me too much, plus I was still hoping to squeak by with no must wear corrective lens restriction.  Well that did not work very well.  

Meanwhile I had tried a few times to get an appt.  I was going either way, but on my last attempt, I got one for Oct. 16 at 9:20.  I had planned to go the week before, but actually the glasses were not even ready till the end of the week, and 9:20 was a good time for me.  I had decided not to ask for the time off.  I was nervous enough about going in without thinking I am supposed to be at work in a couple hours, this is taking too long, etc.  Plus it is hard to get time off at this time of year.  I hate calling in sick if I am not.  But if I did not get the time off, I still had to go and it would look really bad if I ask and am told no, then call in sick.  So just planned to call in sick and go.  No time pressures.