a new me...

Hooray!!  My new social security card came, so Thomas and I made the trip to Raton to the MVD (not DMV here) to trade our Colorado Driver's License and license plates in for genuine New Mexico citizenship. What a bust!  After a couple of hours, we both left feeling rather grumpy.  We took our numbers and waited.  We were entertained by "Modern Marvels" on the History Channel, featuring saws this morning.  Tree cutting equipment, band saws, the anatomy of a saw, chain saws, sawzalls, and more.  And at last A28 appeared on the board.  We laid out a file folder worth of papers, identifications, addresses, titles, insurance, etc.  We had read up online what we needed and brought extra!  No matter...the computer information is inaccurate.  The only way you could really know what you need is to show up, wait, wait a little more, and then be rejected and told by an MVD personnel what you should have brought.  This was the case for Thomas.  He has a commercial driver's license, which requires additional identification, a full medical report (which he didn't bring), and authentic mail including the physical address (most of ours only contains our mailing address).  In lieu of mail you might not have, the approved senders of such mail may fax a document to the MVD, but may not fax or e-mail said documents to you the citizen.  As a regular ol' license, my proof of address can be in the form of a self-declared affidavit of address.  This was what I had to do because mail from the Social Security Administration and mail from Multnomah County (bearing the marriage certificate) were not acceptable.  My bank statement was questioned because it is a Colorado bank!  Oh unnerving! Next came the "name" drama.  There has already been too much name drama around the approved choices of name when we got married, none of which satisfied my preference.  Then came the SSA which let me pick exactly how I want my name to read, and now the MVD has given me yet another version.  I am slightly concerned of who my real identity is anymore...my legal name is different on all three documents.  Does that make me a liar?  Ay, chihuahua!  A NM license contains only your first and last name with a single middle initial.  My SS card reads first: Victoria, middle: Michelle Ford, and last: Vigil.  So now my license reads Victoria M Vigil.  I am beginning to think I will never again be able to leave the country because I am afraid for what version of myself might come back on a passport! All in all, I received my license, but Thomas did not.  Consequently, he could not register his truck.  And I could not register my car because they have to re-title the vehicle and must first verify the VIN matches paperwork and car.  So...another trip to Raton. Poor Thomas was counting the wasted minutes...a lot of them for him.