Legal. Finally.

About a year after I was supposed to do so, I got my Washington driver's license yesterday. Nice thing about this process: A) I didn't have to surrender my Wyoming license. The nice lady just punched a hole in it and handed it back to me. B) I got to smile in my picture (some states have outlawed this, as happy drivers are apparently terrorists. C) I didn't get my license in the town (or even county) where I live. I was driving along in Ilwaco, headed to the Cranberrian Festival, and I happened to park in front of the licensing office, which happened to be open. On a Saturday. That alone was more convincing than the stern look and chastisement I got from the last cop who pulled me over (dead headlight). In July. My friend Y was angry that all I had to do was sign a paper, take a vision test and smile pretty. He had to retake the entire driving test. Because he let his Wyoming license expire. ("'Let' is a debatable term, Sarah," he told me. "She wanted my high school year book to prove I was who I said I was, and by the time the book arrived, my license had expired." Po-tay-toe, po-tah-to, I say). The nice lady in Ilwaco didn't even want my PUD bill as verification of my address. I am remarkably WASPy in appearance (Y is not) and polite in exchange (Y is also very polite. And funny.). It's racial profiling, but to my benefit. Or at least to my relative ease. Poor Y. And I mean that. I think we would have had drastically different experiences, even with an unexpired license on his part, had we gone in to the same office on the same day and interacted with the same employee (not necessary the woman I interacted with, but you get my point). Anyway. I'm legal to drive here. Finally. They're even going to save me a trip to the courthouse and will mail me a voter registration form.