A Delightful VDMV Experience

When we moved to Northern Virginia from Capitol Hill one of the first stops was to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get a Virginia Drivers License. We had to bring a lot of documentation to get the RealID license. It was also very crowded and took a long time. What a difference five years makes! My husband needed to renew his license before March. We filled in the paperwork at home and also got his vision documentation from the eye doctor since he had an appointment within three months. Then we were able to make an appointment on line - and they sent reminders. When we got to our destination this morning I tried to “skip the line” by logging on to his appointment via text, but it didn’t work or I didn’t know what I was doing. Once we had gotten past the information desk we were already being called to a window. We handed over the paperwork and license. My husband had his photo taken, we paid twenty dollars, and got back the license and a temporary paper. The new license should be mailed within two weeks, and you can track the progress. The whole process took less than fifteen minutes. We were both surprised about how organized and courteous the staff were. It was actually a very pleasant experience. 

Wisconsin Professional License Renewal

Intuitively, I had a feeling my license was up for renewal. It's not that I use it anymore - in fact, I haven't used it in over ten years. But it's the principle of the thing. I worked in health care for thirty years. Most of those years was in the Midwest. A registered nurse license needs to be updated every two years. I long ago stopped practicing as a clinical nurse. Most of my career was in management, administration, and corporate office business as a productivity and performance management expert, but I still required my license in a Heath care setting. But I'm just not ready to let it expire because it was such a hard road to get it in the first place! Taking the state board exams was a harrowing experience for me, but taking most exams is still a harrowing experience for me. When I was in high school, I had a nightmare and fell out of bed over a geometry exam. So even before I received the official notice in the mail that it was time to renew the license, I got on line, completed the required forms, took the mandatory survey, paid the fees, and renewed it for another two years. Then the official notice showed up. I'm just glad the license didn't lapse. I don't know why, but I'm just not ready to throw that towel in. You just never know! 

Department of Motor Vehicles Medical Report for Submission Notice

Things were so much easier when you were young and feeling good! The problem is is that you didn't know it at the time. Getting a driver's license was a big deal, and renewing it was a little bit of a fuss. Now when you reach a certain age, proof must be shown that you are both medically and visually capable of driving a motor vehicle. Yes, it makes complete sense. But it is a real pain to get the paperwork completed the old fashioned way. These hard copies look like something from the 1960's. My husband received a notice that his documents were due by February or his license would be suspended. He needs to hand carry the document to both his eye doctor and his medical doctor, and hope that they return the competed form to him. Since it would never be completed at the time it was delivered, he gave the eye doctor a self addressed stamped envelope because our FAX machine doesn't exist anymore. Hopefully when it arrives, he will hand carry it to the medical doctor in the. neighborhood. Let's hope that they don't need to actually see him again in order to fill it in. There is something about "having been seen within the last three months" that worries me. Anyway, it just feels odd to have to run around like this. Maybe in the future we need to make sure our doctor visits correspond to the times we anticipate having to get all this filled in. But neither one of us even thought about it. It's a good thing this happens to probably mostly retired people who may have more free time on their hands. But that doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe I need to check the web site? I have a feeling it wouldn't make any difference.