Quick story:
Yesterday's Small Thing was to capture a moment of real life. Well, my real moment got captured alright, but not how I had hoped it would be.
My husband dropped me off at a car rental office to pick up a car for the next couple of days. Normally, he would wait to make sure I got it before driving off, but he had several errands to run and I assured him that I had it under control. I stepped to the counter and went through the usual procedure.
"OK, just need to see your license and credit card," the man at the counter said. I whipped them out and checked my watch. I was to pick my son up at school in 15 minutes and had just enough time to get there, drop him off at home, run another errand and then leave for a hockey game. This was going well.
"Uh, ma'am, your license has expired and is no longer valid," Mr. Avis Guy said and pushed it back toward me. "I can't rent the car to you without a valid license."
Oh, you gotta be kidding me. But no, it had expired last month and I've been driving illegally for several weeks.
By this time, Tom was long gone, and there was no way to call him to have him return with HIS license, because he lost his phone a week ago.
"There's a DPS office in the next block," the guy said helpfully. "You could go renew it and come back." I immediately envisioned the DPS office, a dimly lit room with orange plastic chairs and a hundred people waiting for their number to be called. I've been there before and remember it well.
I was stuck. I could see no other choice but to do as he suggested. So I walked through the drizzle to the DPS office, hoping it wouldn't take forever.
Have I ever mentioned what drizzle does to my hair? Well, it gets frizzy AND flat at the same time. Did I also mention that I was wearing a stained sweatshirt? I'm quite sure I was not wearing lipstick. And I knew, as I hurried along through the wind and dripping rain, that I would be stepping behind a line and looking into a camera, operated by someone who could care less about capturing the essence of who I am.
I got up to the DPS counter with no wait time. I guessed on only a few of the numbers in the vision screening and fudged just a teeny tiny bit on my weight. I'm certain that those few pounds will be gone right after I start my exercise program, so really, I was just speaking in faith. But before I could do a happy dance at my speedy progress, things came to a halt when the lady refused to take my debit card. "Checks or cash only, Hon," she drawled. "You could go around the corner to the grocery store and buy yerself a soda, get cash back and come on back here." She was also quite helpful.
So I trudged through the drizzle as she suggested, and returned with the appropriate cash. I was madly texting my son to tell him to take the bus. And despite her machine breaking down in the middle of the whole thing, I managed to step behind the line and smile like a drowned rat for the photo I'll be carrying around for the next six years.
I can hardly wait to see my moment of real life captured on my license when it comes in the mail.
