I got my new license and I look okay with a little bit of neck

If the title of this blog post is confusing to you, you may have missed my post I smiled at the DMV this morning (but can I look cool without a neck?). I’ll wait here while you catch up.

Okay, ya with me now?

So my new California driver’s license arrived in the mail yesterday and Hallelujah! the new photo looks pretty decent. Way better than the disheveled ‘my kids are making me and everyone else in the DMV building lose their minds, plus my hair is half-dreaded and I’m wearing what is probably pajamas under a rainbow down vest’ picture from my last ID. You totally want to see it now, don’t you? You are in luck, I’m in a sharing mood.

First of all, let’s go back to the year my first child was born, 2004. I was born in 1980, so I was 24. (I don’t know what happened to my older driver’s licenses – maybe I kept them in box somewhere?) Here is the photo from the California driver’s license I was issued that year.

Cute, huh? Who knows what I thought of that photo at the time it was taken. Now I look back at any photo of myself ten years ago and I think “Gawd, I looked GREAT!” Funny how time can do that. No make-up though, because I was such a hippie. And my lips are closed so I’m barely smiling, I look a little serious.

Okay, now it is time for the photo disaster. I didn’t realize I would be having a picture taken that day at the DMV, so I was caught off guard. My kids were five and three, so as is typical of kids that age, they did not sit quietly in the hard plastic chairs and wait for Mommy to be photographed.

Once again, the close lipped sort-of-smile, and I’m trying to not looked stressed, but I am. No make-up, cuz who has time for that when your kids are that age? Not I. Maybe a little lipstick though. Why does my skin look so orange? Seriously, is that my pajamas under that sweater? Ick. And the hair. I’m ready to forget that ever happened.

Now, we can happily move on to my brand new facial-recognition-recognizable photo a la the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Here it is:

Decent huh? This is one I will totally look back on ten years from now and say, “Gawd, I looked GREAT!” Thanks to my husbands helpful suggestion, my smile shows a little bit of teeth and I actually look happy. My hair is shiny and smooth again. A hint of eye make-up and light lip stick, not much cuz I’m still such a hippie, but enough to keep my features from being completely washed out. And thanks to my long chin, they were forced to include a little bit of my neck in the photo.

I will no longer feel a compulsive urge to apologize every time I show someone my ID, so that’s a nice feeling.

If you didn’t share your DMV story or your ID photo story on the last post, now is your chance. Feel free to put a link to your own blog post in the comments. Honk at me!