Luckily for me, I was able to join AAA for free and renew my license, complete with Real ID upgrade. But, I’m troubled by how the licensing system appears to be working. While I was at the AAA office, quite a few other people came in for DMV-related business. It seems to me that if the if AAA weren’t picking up so much of its slack, the DMV would never be able to get away with offering so few appointments. But AAA is not a free service (I was only able to join for free because my husband has a paid membership). For something as important as a driver’s license–which is needed not just for driving, but also for voting–there should never be anything standing in your way. You shouldn’t have to drive to distant locations, or pay for a AAA membership, or worse yet, be completely unable to renew your license before it expires. I can’t be the only person to have run into problems finding an appointment, and I wonder how others are faring.
P.S. I found out that the birth certificate that I have always thought of as official because it’s original is in fact totally useless for identification purposes. It was issued by the hospital, not the state, and its fancy seal, which looks at first glance like a notary seal, only has the name of the hospital on it. Huh. What’s the point of the certificate then? Why did my parents give it to me, and why have I bothered to keep it all these years? Anyway, it’s a good thing I have a notarized copy of my “real” birth certificate and that I brought it with me to my license renewal appointment.
P.P.S. I didn’t have to get Real ID at this time, but I decided to do it just because I was going to have to eventually anyway. Yes, I was annoyed at having to jump through the same stupid hoops that I’d had to jump through to get my original driver’s license. But I didn’t say so while I was at my appointment. I had promised myself that I wouldn’t, and when, inevitably, I felt the urge to say it, I turned it into my own private joke and had a quiet little laugh instead, thereby sparing the AAA employee from having to listen to me gripe.
I grow more saintly with every passing year. 😉