Not being allowed to drive is like prison

The moral of this story is:

Take the eye exam at the DMV. 

NEVER bring a Vision Report to the department of motor vehicles (DMV) when you are due for an eye exam. If they don’t like it, not filled out properly, exam not current enough you are screwed. I got a letter in July, went to the DMV for a state ID card and to take the exam. The clerk didn’t say anything about it, did my ID and sent me on my way. I didn’t think much of it and thought all was ok.

NOPE! Wednesday I got a letter saying my driver’s license was canceled and I needed to mail it to Springfield. It was very vague and gave some statute numbers which I looked up that were equally as vague. Thursday morning at 8am I called Springfield and was told the Vision Report was too old (hello, pandemic, I thought it would be ok) and I needed to get an eye exam, have the form filled out by the eye doctor and send it in. The woman was not nice when I asked questions and told me I must immediately mail my driver’s license to Springfield and I CANNOT drive until they get my Vision Report, deem it acceptable, process it, and mail me a letter stating my driver’s license has been reinstated, and I receive that letter. Apparently the woman hadn’t had her coffee yet. I was mildly hysterical, took a few minutes to calm down and called back and got a very pleasant woman. She didn’t have any better news, but she was more helpful. She told me since I was immediately going for an eye exam that I shouldn’t mail my driver’s license to Springfield. She also told me that I couldn’t just go to the local DMV and do the eye exam there, that I could only pay for an eye exam, have them fill out the report, mail it in and wait. Thank goodness she told me, otherwise I would have had my chauffeur drive me to the local DMV, wait in line, and be told I can’t do the eye exam there.

I killed some time calling my insurance to find out if an exam was covered. It was, but the Optomotrists were not near me. I looked up my optometrist, found they opened at 9am. I called at 9am, asked how much an exam was, $133 and begged for an appointment that day. The staff knew I went there regularly and got me an appointment at 11am. I had my chauffeur (my wife) drive me, had the exam (no change in my vision, no new eyeglasses needed), then had my chauffeur drive me to the post office.

I figure the time it takes my Vision Report to get to Springfield, approved, letter prepared, letter mailed, letter received, I will not be able to drive for at least 2 weeks. Considering they are all probably still working from home due to the pandemic, it could be longer. My Buick is supposed to go in the shop Tuesday. Normally my wife follows me, I drop it off, then she takes me to pick it up and I drive home. Noooo. I can’t drive! I am not getting a ticket for potentially $1,000 plus court costs. (I looked that up too. Thank you Google!) My luck is not very good right now what with my driver’s license being canceled and paying for an eye exam that I didn’t need, other than for the Vision Report, so I’m not going to tempt fate.

Where I live there is zero public transportation and I can’t afford an Uber. I will have to rely on my wife to take me where I want/need to go. She doesn’t leave the house much and sleeps very late. That is soooo not me. I get up fairly early, depending on my plans. Did I also mention that I can’t tolerate when she drives? She’s not a bad driver, she just has more than a bit of road rage. Yelling about the car behind us that really isn’t that close, or the car that may or may not dart into our path out of a parking lot, or the car that can’t tolerate following a car doing the actual posted speed limit and passes us. I can’t take this added stress. I’m afraid I’ll be incoherent and drooling in a day or so. 

All I can think of is the things I can’t do and the places I can’t go on the spur of the moment. Some are:

Making/going to a couple medical related appointments.

Visiting my daughter’s at her apartment.

Going to the grocery store any time I want.

Going to garage sales on the weekend.

Sneaking drive-Thru lunch when I have my son help me grocery shop. (Yes, it’s always a vegetarian lunch for me.)

Embarrassing the heck out of my son by singing along to the radio and seat dancing while on the way to grocery shopping. (Hey, it’s the only kicks I get these days.)

There’s more I’m sure. But the point is that I have to rely on my wife to drive me. When I lived in Chicago I could walk out of my house, walk 1/4 of a block to a bus stop, catch a bus where I wanted to go, or catch a bus that went directly to an El train stop that would take me downtown. I went for over a year without a car and it didn’t bother me much. I worked downtown at the time so the bus to the El train stop was very convenient. This 2 weeks + is going to make me lose my mind!

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