An Unexpected Adventure

Today was just one of those days. I should update my list of bottom characteristics that I posted yesterday to add the fact that I sometimes wait until deadlines are near to actually act on them. At times it makes my life very adventurous like today. Next week I will be escorting my mother who is in a wheelchair back to Michigan to spend a few weeks with my sisters in Detroit. To get on a plane these days you need valid photo identification. Here’s where the adventure starts, my mom’s Michigan driver’s license expired last year. She is unable to drive any longer so why get a new drivers license? No problem, just get a Washington State Photo ID. That’s what I thought six weeks ago when I took her to the Dept of Licensing and there starts the adventure.

Because her Michigan license had expired she would need additional documents to prove that she was who she was and that she in fact was a resident of the state of Washington, again no problem, yeah right. There are very specific rules on what documents the DOL will accept and I did my research and thought I had that. I was really trying not to wait until the last minute so I took her to the DOL in mid-June to get her ID. Now because my mom lives in a Senior Assist Living facility she pays no utilities, because she doesn’t drive she doesn’t need Auto Insurance, because she is retired she doesn’t have a business license, because my other sister who lives in Michigan does her taxes the IRS thinks she has a Michigan address, bottom line she didn’t have the right documents when we got there. They told me that if I got her a WA Voters Registration card I would be ok, so that is what I did thinking that I would get that back in 2-3 weeks and still have time.

We have been watching the mailbox daily for the last two weeks and no card in sight. Last night I went on line and found out that you can type in a persons name and birth date and find out if they are registered. Sure enough my mom was not in the system. I was going to have to take her to a get one in person.

I go into work early because I am going to be gone for a couple of hours. I head on over to my mom’s place at about 9:30 and pick her up. We take a little detour to the Woodinville Branch Office where we found out they can’t do them in person before we head to downtown Seattle and the King County Administration Building on James and 5th. We get there easily enough, but where to park? Where to park a wheelchair van and get someone in a wheelchair out of it without them flying down James or Jefferson straight into Puget Sound? Oh and yes the “unloading zone” was full of two parked cars. I found a parking garage on James and 6th only one block down James and we will be there. Only problem is that but we are talking about being on First Hill in Seattle and that road is very steep.

How do you wheel some one in a wheel chair down a very steep hill ---- Very Carefully. In fact I walked her down the hill backwards making sure that she had her hands on the brakes and that I planted each foot to make sure they would slip. One slip and I was going to be run over by a wheelchair. To make it all the more adventurous it was raining. No not the normal mist we see, but an honest to goodness rain and of course since it wasn’t raining when I left home this morning I didn’t have a jacket on.

We get to the building and use the buttons to open the automatic doors only to be greeted by six steps up to the lobby. No ramp, just the step and a wheelchair lift that was broken, now what? My mother can’t stand on her own let alone climb a stair and since she out weighs me by 70 lbs there is no way I am going to carry her up the stairs. Just then God provided an Angle. This gentleman came down the stairs, saw our problem and went and got someone from Voters Registration to come and do my mom’s paper work right there in the entry way.

We get her registered and her card in hand and now it is time to get back in the van that is one block UP that steep hill. Nope, I didn’t push her up the hill. I left her in the lobby (taking her wallet with me) and ran up the hill or at least tried hurried, drove down and double parked on 5th Ave then ran in and brought her out and loaded her into the van. Now as I’m getting her wheelchair strapped in place I step off the curb into the gutter in the street, remember now that it is raining. Yep, I stepped off into about 4 inches of water and now not only am I wet from running in the rain, but both feet are wet.

From there we went back to Bothell and the DOL and there were only three people in line in front of us. My mother is now an official Washington resident with a Valid Photo ID. I am back at work after only a short 3-hour adventure. I guess I could have waited until Tuesday to make things a little more exciting, but I think I had enough excitement for today.