I received from NYS Department of Motor Vehicles my driver’s license renewal. It gave me the option of getting an enhanced driver’s license, which would permit me to travel by land and sea to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean without my passport, for an extra $30. Sure, I thought, why not.
The renewal came with an application and a list of documents I would need. I completed the application, got together my passport, driver’s license, social security card and utility bills and went. I started out on Thursday and got to the DMV office near JFK airport at 11:15. Waited 45 minutes and spoke with the clerk.
The clerk saw the passport and license had on it Davis-Stern, but my social security card, which my parents ordered when I was born, had only Davis on it. I would need to get my marriage certificate. Off I went to get the certificate. I returned at 2:15pm and waited again. I reached the clerk and she told me that while I had five different kinds of utility bills, some had on them Davis and others had Stern, I would need an affidavit from my parents that Lenore Davis and Lenore Stern both living at the same address, were the same person.
Off I went to my parents home, had them sign the document, and went back to DMV by 3:30pm. As an aside, each time I went back and forth, there was another accident on Rockaway Turnpike on which I reported. Did you think to yourself on Thursday, “why in the world is Suri pacing up and down Rockaway Tpke all day?” The accidents added about 30 minutes to my travel time each way.
I got to the third clerk and she told me all was okay, but the DMV computer in Albany was down, and I would have come back another time and redo the process. By that time it was closing time, 4pm, and I had to run to Tribeca to teach tax.
As I was driving, I was remarkably calm. I spent a whole day trying to accomplish this one task, and it was so comical, that I was waiting patiently to determine if I could find a reason that this had to happen. I drove to school and that was that for Thursday.
Friday came, and I intended to return to the DMV in the morning, but I had an office emergency and so did not get back to DMV until 3pm. I was waiting and waiting….suddenly a woman walks out of a side waiting room, a friend of a friend. She told me that her special needs child was just getting her learner’s permit. She was supposed to have been at DMV a month before, but she had a gallbladder attack and this was the first date and time they could reschedule.
She stopped and looked at me and said you know Suri, don’t you do trusts? “Yes, for thirty years,” I replied, could you do our special needs trust for us, we need it ASAP. So we took out our calendars and arranged a time for her to come to my office, and no sooner did we schedule the appointment, my number was called, and five minutes later, I walked out with my Enhanced Driver’s License and a new client. Because you just never know.
Each segment back and forth I asked where this was leading me. I look constantly for small miracles, and each client is yad Hashem. My enhanced driver’s license with my enhanced emunah.
Have a great day.
-Suri