Now the story can be told!

It all started out innocently enough. I went to see Dr. Naam about having reconstructive surgery done
on my poor old arthritic hand. We scheduled it for May 5. As we left his office, the nurse commented that I needed a photo ID the day of the surgery.
When I got home I pulled out my driver's license and told Jim that the person in the picture on the license didn't even look like me (I had dyed hair, big glasses and tipped the scales a few (?) pounds lighter. One day, I told Jim to run me by the DMV office and I would have a new picture taken and change the address on my license to the address I have lived at for 13+ years. Yes, I
know!!!
While we were waiting in line for someone to help me, I happened to glance down at my driver's license and stamped on it were these words: "Expiration date 2005!"
Well, when the DMV guy was told this, I thought he might be having a heart attack. He did tell me
I had set a new record. The old record was a woman who had an expired license 5 years old.
He informed me I had to start over--read the Rules of the Road book; take a written test, have an eye exam and drive. A few days later, after having reviewed the booklet, I went back to the
driver's license office, prepared to take the written test.
When the worker asked me for an ID, I was prepared, except for one little thing. She said she
needed to see my Social Security card. Guess what!!! I had lost that card! I was told I couldn't get a driver's license without a Social Security card.
I contacted the national Social Security office and they told me my birth certificate wasn't going to work--they needed an Illinois driver's license (valid driver's license, they stressed). Well,
if that wasn't a big fat mess. I couldn't get my new driver's license without a Social Security card
and couldn't get a Social Security card without a valid Driver's license.
I kept trying to find a type of ID that the SSA would accept. Finally, we drove to Effingham
to the regional office and I explained my dilemma to the gentleman there. He said there was
a solution. If I had a doctor's print-out of where I had seen a doctor, with my date of birth on it
and my Social Security number printed on it--that would work.
I had just seen Dr. Bonutti a few weeks earlier, so we scooted over to Dr. Bonutti's office--his nurse gave me a copy of my last appointment print-out, we took it back to the SS office
and it worked.
I got the Social Security card in the mail within a week and a half and yesterday took and
passed my driver's test, SO I AM LEGAL AGAIN!
We tried to piece together how I could have had an expired license for so many years. We decided that I must have failed to notify the State of Illinois when we moved from the country
to town (around 13 years ago). I had not been in the Driver's License facility for years because
I had a good driving record and all I had to do was order my new license by mail. Luckily,
I had never been pulled over by a policeman who asked to see my license, and it had been
so long, I was not even in the data base in Springfield. They must have assumed I was dead!
So take my advice, and once in a while be sure your driver's license is current; and that you
have a Social Security CARD!