Who Am I?

Dear DC,

This is my first post here. Julia and I decided to share this blog together, so let me apologize in advance to those who are not accustomed to my inappropriate humor. For some, you may be asking, who am I? That is a great question. In fact, the last few weeks I'm not so sure either. And for that we can all thank the Washington DC Department of Motor Vehicles. Let me say that moving across country, as big of a challenge as it was, it was very smooth with very little trouble. However, all that changed once I tried to register our car in DC.

Feeling very confident standing in line, having checked, rechecked, and triple checked to make sure that I had all the proper forms and identification in order to get a new drivers license and register our car, my confidence was crumbled when it became apparent that my identity was in question. After handing my documents, including social security card and passport over to the DMV clerk, he quickly noticed that the name on my social security card did not match the name on my other documents. My drivers license and passport both showed me as R____ Kyle J_____, but my SS card showed me as merely Kyle J____. The clerk informed me that my SS card needed to match everything else, and with a different name on it they cannot confirm who I am and I would not be able to register my car. Blast!!

After waiting in the DMV for another hour to see a "special clerk" to see if I could convince them that I am both Kyle and R____ all at the same time, I was asked the all important question from a lady who obviously doesn't enjoy her job.

-"Boy, why does your SS card have a different name on it?

-"I dont know," was my reply. "I suppose my parents thought that life didn't pose enough challenges on its own."

She didn't like my joke...not even a grin. Apparently that wasnt a good enough excuse to allow me to use my current SS card and I was told to go to the social security administration and get a new card with my correct full name on it. Sigh.....

I think the type of people that you see in the SSA office is a good topic for another post. Lets just say that they are not normal. And by not normal, I mean they are quite possibly insane. But to wrap up my challenges of identity, today in the mail arrived my new SS card with, (drum roll) My real full name!! Aah, finally I have an identity back! It feels great to be fully R____ Kyle J____ now.

So DC, I'm not sure why your DMV is the only instution, person, or government that has ever questioned my identity in my 27 years, but thanks for the ride. Lets not do that again. And to all you parents out there....please don't change your childs name on their social security just because they are confused in kindergarten why their teacher keeps calling them by their dad's name. It will eventually cause a mess down the road.

With Love,

Kyle...I mean R____....no, wait, its Kyle.