My lack of an Oklahoma drivers license has everything to do with my flagrant procrastination when it comes to going to the license office. For starters, my TX license is expired. Talk about throwing caution to the wind. I fly out to Florida for vacation and my companies annual meeting tomorrow morning. I went to get my license this morning. Anyone else smell a recipe for disaster?
The office in Tahlequah is only open Tuesday and Thursday from 8:15-12. Convenient right? I got to the office at 8:30. Because I am from out of state and my license is expired, I have to take a written test and a driving test with an instructor. I walked in and the place was packed. Fifteen minutes after they opened all the slots for the entire day were taken for driving tests. Great. I got on the road to Muskogee. I called on my way there and the man I spoke with told me they had slots open for this afternoon. Thirty minutes later I walked into another packed office to find that all the slots had been taken for the entire day there too. I find out the closest office is in Sallisaw, so my unplanned road trip continued. I tried to reach the Sallisaw office on my way with no answers. Not a good sign. In the meantime I tried calling every other license office in the state. Tulsa, full. Oklahoma City, full. McCallister, full. Elk City, no answer, little hope, plus it was my farthest option and a shot in the dark to begin with. Just as I pulled into Sallisaw I was able to get through on the phone to find out they were full too. Everyone's response was "It's Spring Break so everyone is slammed." Really? I thought it would be the exact opposite. I was wrong.
I headed back to Tahlequah feeling quite sure that I would be making a "quick" trip to the nearest TX office to renew my license there. I was not looking forward to a seven hour round trip to get a license renewal that may or may not work at the TSA security line tomorrow morning. I got back to my house and realized while my license is expired, the renewal form I have is proof that I am currently licensed in TX. My license really never did get to me in the mail. When I finally got through to the state office last year, I was told it had been returned to them and destroyed. Thanks for nothing. I decided I would go back down to the office and plead my case to lone employee of the office. I waited half an hour to ask the question because I figured she might be more willing to bend the rules on my behalf if their was no audience. I told her my story and she said no. Exactly what I thought would happen. I felt beaten down by my procrastination and the state of Oklahoma. I went for one more hail mary. "What are my options? One of my new year's resolutions was to stop procrastinating and yet I have waited until today to get my license renewed. I have to be on a plane out of Tulsa at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow and I do not have a valid i.d. to get through security. Do you have any suggestions?" She asked me if I was just needing to get my license done so I could get on a plane. I told her I was. She said she could not do my license today but that she could do a state id card for me that would be valid proof of who I am. Hallelujah! "Are you serious? I had no idea you could just get an id and not a driver's license." She started getting paperwork together and ten minutes later I was on my way to the tag office to have my license printed. Examiner Johnson, you are my new best friend. I now have a valid license to fly. I also have license to procrastinate a little more on getting my new Oklahoma driver's license.
I cannot believe that it never occurred to me to just get an id card. I know they exist. I guess I just assumed I would have to have a license. You know what happens when you assume!
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