Restriction A - with corrective lenses

Alas, it is that time of my life when I had to renew my driver's license again. It's been six years, but I know I didn't have my picture made 6 years ago. They used the one I had. So, if I had been stopped with that 12 year old picture, it might would have turned into being somewhat of a humiliating experience to admit how much I've aged in the past dozen years.

But that wasn't what worried me. What did worry me was the eye exam. This was not going to be so easy. I'm getting cataracts, I can't see worth a flip, and I haven't gotten new glasses in three years. So, I was really stressing about this. In fact, I played out the mental daydream (nightmare) scenario that they would take my license away from me and I would have to call somebody to come pick me up.

Well, my birthday is on the 28th; so I knew I had to get down there early enough that if I didn't pass, I would have time to get new glasses and take the test again. So, I took a deep breath and went today, the 3rd.

First off the bat, I was standing in the line and when they flashed the light to take a person's picture, the light was right in my line of vision; so I saw bright spots for a bit. Oh, great. Well, I had to wait long enough, that corrected itself.

A lady from the back came to her station and called on me, as I was next in line. I had been watching the two ladies who were working their stations, wondering which would be nicer. So, when the 3rd lady came and I was her first, I felt a sense of relief for some reason, and it proved to be true. She was very nice.

Well, we exchange the pleasantries and preliminaries, and the moment of truth arrives. She pointed me to the machine you look in, and told me first without the glasses. "Line 5." Oh, boy. I couldn't see a thing. She was very kind and told me to go to the machine next to it. Maybe that would be better. Nope, it wasn't. "Okay, girl," I tell myself. "Stay calm. You knew you'd need to wear your glasses."

I have two pair of bifocals and took them both. One pair is computer/reading; and one pair is distance/reading. I always wear the computer glasses, but while driving up to the DMV, I got out the distance/reading to see if it made much difference; and it didn't at all. So, I took the computer glasses I had in my hand and put them on. Absolutely NO improvement. I couldn't read a thing.

Now I'm starting to feel the ol' heart start to be a little faster, but I quickly grabbed the other pair.

Ohhhh, there it is!!! I rattled off the letters/numbers so fast I even stumbled in my words on the last number "5" -- no, "6." Whew!!

She laughed a little and informed me we'd have to put a restriction on my license. NO KIDDING!!

Now that it's all over I wish I could go back to those machines and do it again. I'm wondering if I just didn't have my head lined up right in the first place because I know my 2nd pair of glasses just aren't that much more correcting than the first. But whatever, at least I've got them and I'm good for another six years!! Such a simple thing as renewing your license turned out to be a major stressor, but God is good and got me through it!

I lifted the picture above of our DMV off Google Maps. But just as an aside comment, that is the same location I went when I took my boys in the 80s to get their beginner permits and then licenses when they turned 16. And, indeed, it is the same building that I went to when I got my very first driver's license when I was 16 in the early 60s. I can remember sitting in the back room taking the written test; and then later when it was time for the driving test, I remember the officer told me to turn left and I made a very nice and controlled right - right into a parking lot! I wondered why he wanted me to go in that parking lot! lol He was kind, acknowledged that he knew I was nervous, and passed me. Gosh, that was such a long time ago.