Got my Florida ID card today

[Kajikit 65]

I don't drive so I didn't need a driver's licence and I put off doing anything about getting my state ID card because I thought it would be too much hassle... only it was EASY! I was actually surprised at how quick and painless it was - you have to book your appointment time on the DMV website and I actually had to book it three different times before I got there, but that wasn't their fault - we had to find a good time for my husband to take me there and he works on-call so we never really know in advance if he'll have five jobs to go to in a day or none at all! Anyway, just over a week ago we made it there at the appointed time and there was no line - I just showed my appointment printout to the lady at the desk and she told me to go to counter one where they took my photo, asked me if I wanted to be an organ donor (yes I do) and gave me the organ donor form to fill out. That took longer than anything else! Three minutes later I was back in the waiting room with my husband and he was surprised to see me so soon... they told me that my card might take 30 days to get because they had to send the paperwork off to Tallahassee to verify my legality, but there it was in the mail this afternoon. Total elapsed time, eight days! And the card is good until 2010 so they didn't tie it to my conditional greencard either... by the time it expires I'll probably have done something about learning to drive a car and I'll have a real licence instead.

It's just so NICE to have something beaurocratic go simply for a change! Now I can go wherever I want and I don't have to say 'no I don't have a driver's licence' and get looked at funny if I need to show my photo ID... I stowed my greencard away in my passport holder for safekeeping and it's safely in my important paperwork file, so now I don't have to worry about losing my purse or having my ID stolen - it's MUCH easier to replace a three-dollar ID card than a two-hundred dollar greencard if anything bad happens to it!

Now the only thing I have to change is my social security card... it still says 'valid for work with DHS approval'. But I don't expect it to be a hassle either, and I'm in no hurry.