After getting my name changed. And I caught my breath. Carl and I headed back to the office. He had to get back to work. I wanted to get to DMV to continue to strike while the iron was hot, so to speak. I wanted my name changed on my drivers license as soon as possible.
So after Carl and I got back to the office, I picked up my things and headed out to a DMV office. I managed to get to the office during a lull and there were only a few in front of me to check in. The guy doing the checking in was in a Friday afternoon kind of mood and was joking with the others people behind the desk and some of the patrons. He joked that he had been at the job so long that he had seen everything by then. Well I certainly hoped that was true, because if not I was going to be one of the "everythings" he would talk about.
Anyway, in order to check in you had to show your current drivers license if you had it and say what you were there for.
Even though it killed me to drag that ugly license out, I drew solace from the knowledge that it would be for the last time, hopefully.
My turn came and I stepped up to the clerk. I handed him my drivers license, looked him straight in the eye, and said that I wanted to change my name, address *and* gender. He looked at me and at the card, didn't even blink, smiled nicely at me, checked me in and gave me a number. Maybe he has seen everything...
In a short time, my number was called and I stepped up to the window.
I handed my old drivers license to the clerk and said I wanted to change my name, address and gender from male to female.
He started from the top and took my certified copy of my court ordered name change. I had to point out where the relevant fields were. And that I was changing it from (barry) to Sandra. Once he saw that information he started making updates to my records. He also didn't seem to care one way or another about this woman turning in a drivers license of a man with a beard. Maybe all of them have seen it all...
The address change was next. I handed him my Julie built renters contract and he looked at the address, and not much else, and made me verify that the address was completely correct. When he entered that, he hit the print button for the form.
I interrupted him and told him that I wanted to change my gender marker as well. He re-opened my records and asked me for documentation.
I handed him my letter from my doctor. He barely glanced at it and then he asked if I had had any surgery. I said yes and handed him the documentation from my surgeon which indicated that my diagnosis was gender dysphoria and that I had an orchiectomy as a result.
He said he would have to make copies of the documents. He took both the letter and the report and went to copy them. I think he may have been checking with his supervisor as well. A few minutes later he came back with the copies, handed me back the originals and changed my marker from "Male" to "Female" and printed the form again. He handed it to me for final verification. With growing happiness and pride I verified the information and the spelling of the word "female" about half a dozen times to make sure he had it right... I gave him back the form and said that everything looked right.
He gave me a quick eye exam and then, clipped my old drivers license to the form and pointed me to the cashier.
The cashier looked at the form, and said the charge would be ten dollars. Pretty cheap for something that I waited all my life for. I gave her the money and she pointed me to the next station to get my picture taken.
The next station the woman took my form and old license typed in some information and told me to wait to be called for my picture. That was the last time I ever saw my old drivers license. The person taking the pictures waved me to her station, asked my name and told me to have a seat in front of the camera and smile! Then she said to have a seat and she would call me.
A few minutes later that lady looked at me and said "Sandra...". She handed the new license to me and asked me to verify the information. Everything looked I thanked her and went on my way.
Back in my car, I looked at the new license again. Then was about to put it back in my wallet when I realized that my auto insurance information was still under my old name. If I got into an accident I wouldn't have any proof of insurance. It was starting to dawn on my that now with my name change, it would be harder and harder to prove my link back to (barry). I got on the phone and called my agent and asked about my auto insurance and my new name. I talked with one of his staff and this was the same person who called me a couple of weeks ago about my life policies, so I didn't have to go into a lot of detail. They said no problem, come into the office and show the court order and new drivers license and they would take care of everything.
So I went to the office and the staff people there already knew about me and were ready with everything to sign and all. I gave them copies of my court order, physician note and surgery information. They printed off temporary insurance cards for me. They were quite helpful and very friendly. One of the staff was curious about how I felt. And we talked about how I felt now compared to before and how much better I felt. They were happy for me and said I really looked like a happy person. So that really made me feel good.
After that I made my way back home and was exhausted from all the running around I had done.
It had been a very loooong day!
-Sandy(tired but happy!)
So after Carl and I got back to the office, I picked up my things and headed out to a DMV office. I managed to get to the office during a lull and there were only a few in front of me to check in. The guy doing the checking in was in a Friday afternoon kind of mood and was joking with the others people behind the desk and some of the patrons. He joked that he had been at the job so long that he had seen everything by then. Well I certainly hoped that was true, because if not I was going to be one of the "everythings" he would talk about.
Anyway, in order to check in you had to show your current drivers license if you had it and say what you were there for.
Even though it killed me to drag that ugly license out, I drew solace from the knowledge that it would be for the last time, hopefully.
My turn came and I stepped up to the clerk. I handed him my drivers license, looked him straight in the eye, and said that I wanted to change my name, address *and* gender. He looked at me and at the card, didn't even blink, smiled nicely at me, checked me in and gave me a number. Maybe he has seen everything...
In a short time, my number was called and I stepped up to the window.
I handed my old drivers license to the clerk and said I wanted to change my name, address and gender from male to female.
He started from the top and took my certified copy of my court ordered name change. I had to point out where the relevant fields were. And that I was changing it from (barry) to Sandra. Once he saw that information he started making updates to my records. He also didn't seem to care one way or another about this woman turning in a drivers license of a man with a beard. Maybe all of them have seen it all...
The address change was next. I handed him my Julie built renters contract and he looked at the address, and not much else, and made me verify that the address was completely correct. When he entered that, he hit the print button for the form.
I interrupted him and told him that I wanted to change my gender marker as well. He re-opened my records and asked me for documentation.
I handed him my letter from my doctor. He barely glanced at it and then he asked if I had had any surgery. I said yes and handed him the documentation from my surgeon which indicated that my diagnosis was gender dysphoria and that I had an orchiectomy as a result.
He said he would have to make copies of the documents. He took both the letter and the report and went to copy them. I think he may have been checking with his supervisor as well. A few minutes later he came back with the copies, handed me back the originals and changed my marker from "Male" to "Female" and printed the form again. He handed it to me for final verification. With growing happiness and pride I verified the information and the spelling of the word "female" about half a dozen times to make sure he had it right
He gave me a quick eye exam and then, clipped my old drivers license to the form and pointed me to the cashier.
The cashier looked at the form, and said the charge would be ten dollars. Pretty cheap for something that I waited all my life for. I gave her the money and she pointed me to the next station to get my picture taken.
The next station the woman took my form and old license typed in some information and told me to wait to be called for my picture. That was the last time I ever saw my old drivers license. The person taking the pictures waved me to her station, asked my name and told me to have a seat in front of the camera and smile! Then she said to have a seat and she would call me.
A few minutes later that lady looked at me and said "Sandra...". She handed the new license to me and asked me to verify the information. Everything looked I thanked her and went on my way.
Back in my car, I looked at the new license again. Then was about to put it back in my wallet when I realized that my auto insurance information was still under my old name. If I got into an accident I wouldn't have any proof of insurance. It was starting to dawn on my that now with my name change, it would be harder and harder to prove my link back to (barry). I got on the phone and called my agent and asked about my auto insurance and my new name. I talked with one of his staff and this was the same person who called me a couple of weeks ago about my life policies, so I didn't have to go into a lot of detail. They said no problem, come into the office and show the court order and new drivers license and they would take care of everything.
So I went to the office and the staff people there already knew about me and were ready with everything to sign and all. I gave them copies of my court order, physician note and surgery information. They printed off temporary insurance cards for me. They were quite helpful and very friendly. One of the staff was curious about how I felt. And we talked about how I felt now compared to before and how much better I felt. They were happy for me and said I really looked like a happy person. So that really made me feel good.
After that I made my way back home and was exhausted from all the running around I had done.
It had been a very loooong day!
-Sandy(tired but happy!)
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