Let me tell you, it's a very different experience here than it was in Iowa. I walked into the room which was already crowded with at least fifty people. There were people of almost every racial background and various ages and instead of three or four stations like our office in Ames, there were at least ten.
When I arrived, I pulled my number off the turn-o-meter and sat down in one of the few open chairs. I was H01. They were only on G68.
Goodness gracious. Good thing I brought my phone with.
The nice thing about a place so crowded was that people got tired of waiting and left. Even though I was over thirty numbers away from being called, I only had to wait for maybe thirty or forty minutes. Not too shabby.
When my number finally did get called, I was with a sweet older southern gal. I think her name was Roberta or something like that. The poor woman was in training and I don't think she'd yet learned to transfer a license from state to state. She asked for my paperwork and I handed her my birth certificate, my marriage license, my drivers license, my passport, a bill addressed to my current address, and my lease agreement.
The first mistake she made was recording the information for my marriage license in the birth certificate slot. And then didn't know what to do with my bills.... the man next to her had to coach her through it all.
I'm not complaining. I've been in the trainee spot before and it can make you get flustered pretty quick.
I just won't be surprised if they call me and say, "Uh... ma'am? Something isn't right with your paperwork."
And my picture on my new license of me will be with a bald head...
*****Update on August 9, 2011*****
I got my license! Here's a picture of it! They're not as cool as the Iowa ones, but they're alright.
Our miracle of the week was concerning car insurance.
For those of you who know me well, you know I have a lead foot. I've been working on taming it over the past year or so and I'm getting better, but I still have two tickets on my record that I am waiting for to fall off.
The unfortunate thing about insurance was that we moved from Iowa, which has some of the lowest rates in the nation, to Michigan, which is almost THE highest. My payment was supposed to more than double.
Ouch.
My policy is due to expire tomorrow and so all this week and the last, Isaac and I have been running around, trying to figure out which company we want to use, what coverage we would like to get, and so on and so forth. He's been with State Farm since he was fourteen while I've been with Progressive for about three years now.
During this process, I learned that switching insurance providers is kind of like switching hair stylists.... you don't really want to do it unless you feel that you HAVE to. I'm not sure why, but you just don't. I wanted to stay with Progressive while Isaac felt more comfortable with me joining his policy with State Farm.
I decided it was going to have to be up to Isaac what we would do. It was just too hard for me to decide because I believe in my head that I have control over most everything in my life. This was another issue of control: if I can control myself and be careful to not get in an accident, I don't see why we can't get the cheapest insurance.
Isaac sees things differently though. He sees variables and uncontrollable circumstances that could ruin us financially if something did happen. While we were discussing it and I was explaining that I don't forsee anything that I would do that would put us in a bad spot, his reply was, "Well did you forsee getting cancer?"
Smarty pants.
I actually have planned on getting lymphoma for some time--I just wasn't expecting it to be right after I got married or when I was 23--but if it didn't happen, I was going to be thankful. When you've had an uncle who fought with it for ten years and eventually died from it, it's just kind of always in the back of your head. That mindset is maybe why having cancer doesn't bother me as much as it might someone who doesn't have those same assumptions.
Anyway, while meeting with his State Farm guy yesterday, Isaac learned some good news: I don't have to switch to Michigan insurance for a year!!! HECK YES!
I guess they consider it a transitioning period and so it is not illegal for me to do so. Then, by the time we have to switch, I'll be a month away from 25, which will make our policy considerably cheaper.
That, my friends, is a miracle--and that is what we are thankful for this week.
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