20191228_155004

to give words to things that are not ready.   But today,  i see the "door"  is not a door at all,  has never been.  Was and is always a gate.  and not for keeping in or keeping out,  but to signify our Choice…..to  remain outside or to Enter.   

i had to take everything off.   The ground cloth was too small.  I ripped and added some inches.   Put things back and pinned but see in the last light of this day that  right side wants more.

AFTERTHOUGHT

i didn't think i had the energy,  but maybe i do.  I'll try and delete if not.

I spent the good part of yesterday back at the MVD.   I brought the documents that i had been told to obtain.  Certified.  I lucked out and got the same young woman as i'd had the last time.   I was more organized.  She looked and went off to seek a response from her Supervisor.  I could watch her explaining to him,  him studying my papers.  She returned.  Yes to the documents i provided today but no to two others that a different supervisor had approved my last visit.    I said

don't do this to me.   I didn't want to say it,  but it came out of my mouth.

she sat and looked directly at me,  silently.  Like before.   just neutral.   No.

so,  my  New Mexico driver's license expires in 2 days.   It will take a week at least to obtain certified copies of the documents they want.  I will be totally expired.  I assume that means that i will need to take a Road Test if i ever get that far,  and how do i do that with a car that has expired New Mex plates because i have to have a California license first before applying for the plates but that's kind of beside the point because i still haven't found any mechanic willing to put on a new carburetor  which it needs to pass the smog test.  I have never had expired plates or license in the 60 years driving.  I have NO tickets.  NO accidents.  I have followed the Law of the Land as Rinpoche said at Jewel Heart Temple.  Follow the law of the land.    I always have.  But i am about not to.  Old woman,  illegal.  Going to grocery store and post office.  Dog.  

when i woke at the 2 am appointed hour i woke clean from the dreaming which was the usual good natured funny business but it took only a second to remember it all.  And i stood at the abyss of it all.  How can i possibly   do this?  But i have no choice.  And suddenly i switched to remembering sitting there,  waiting my turn.  I had waited almost 4 hours for my turn.   There are i think 6 rows of chairs,  10 chairs per row.  Almost all were filled the entire time.  The chairs for the Waiting.   There are 8 windows open serving people.   Others were at the computers taking their written tests.  Some were out taking their road tests.  While i sat, waiting,  I watched people come and go,  eavesdropped a little on some that were anxious and talked loud.   Most of us just sat silently.  Doing nothing.  i thought last night and then again all day today about the variety of human beings there and how each of us was a WHOLE  STORY  rising out of even more STORY from which we came.  And today,  it was very Beauty FULL to SEE that…all of Us there.  NEEDING.   ALL OF US.  TRYING.  So many,  not speaking English,  coming with a young family member to Help…not only driver's licences,  but Real ID,  picture ID proving that you are an ok person.  Everyone there was an ok person or they wouldn't have sat 4 hours.  The old man who sat in front of me had the fragrance of mothballs.  He wore a Mao hat.  A mid age woman with an attitude until she had to go to the computer for the written test and couldn't figure out how to do it…her shirt read so and so wreaking and salvage.  The young women couple with shready jeans and great startling hair dos,  the old woman next to me with her designer bag and costume jewelry assisted by a black man who might have been from MoTown…her partner?or friend….the Rasta guy and then all the just ordinary people.  We all have a story.  We were all sitting there because we have NO CHOICE.   The United States has decided it wants to,  needs to,   KNOW so many things.

and i thought too,  at the 2 am thinking hour about all the street people i pass on my way to the post office and on to the DMV.   How at some point in this game,  they gave up.  Not enough money for the emissions tests.  No access to internet for documents.  i can see it.  I can really see it.  To just give up.  Quit.  They all,  each and every one of them have a Story too  It's an alternative.  Quitting.   

 

 

 

 

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19 responses to “quieting the urge…..but to add as afterthought”

  1. Acey Avatar

    I am feeling this post so deeply as I did the other on this topic. So so deeply. I wrote out why and then decided maybe so many details weren’t wise in the slightest since it involves the IRS declaring me deceased last spring and subsequent hijinks involved with getting myself resurrected.
    I feel every bit of what you described and evoked. every single bit. Just with a different branch of the same system. (at one point in place of don’t do this to me I went off on a miserable-eyed clerk concerning “the idiocy you people call Steve Mnuchin”)
    it’s terrifying when forced into seeing yourself through their eyes. When coming a little to close to understanding how it could be to live Beyond everything known as legit enough to leave in peace. Marginalization happens quick and without hesitation.
    absolutely terrifying. May you travel Out safely and without undue fear. May the nightmare unravel as smoothly as possible. Maybe you Be who you are within the system as well as reality.

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  2. Acey Avatar

    sorry I didn’t catch the last autocorrect and fix it. MAY you be who you are.

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  3. grace Forrest Avatar

    marginalization happens quick and without hesitation

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  4. joanne Avatar
    joanne

    I am reminded of the huge Paper/Documents Machine when my father died and I had to do the paperwork.I cried a lot. And Acey’s story of being declared dead. I have no words for that…… I sat and cried at motor Vehicles. and I guess I will again when I try for a Real ID.
    Grace..next time you go-or all the days till you have license plates and a driver’s license- I send positive thoughts your way. That boy with the big trucks.. he was asked to install this new part? Said no?

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  5. Nancy Avatar
    Nancy

    Oh, these stories. I go in Feb for a real ID. wish me luck?

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  6. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    This whole thing has been a total disaster for so many .. unbelievable!! I have no words ., seems I haven’t found the right words for awhile. Don’t know why .. Christmas was really nice. My job is going well .. we are all healthy and yet I can’t seem to shake this feeling of doom. I’m really sorry Grace I would love to make this all go away for you .. you and so many others do not deserve this. Big giant hug and a whole bunch of love.

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  7. grace Forrest Avatar

    Marginalization happens quick and without hesitation…
    this is what is so striking. Both literally and figuratively…striking…a blow.
    and there is no recourse. If there is a single flaw.
    The thing that saves me is that i have lived within all laws in accordance to that law. So somehow…it MUST be true that i will make my way. I remember back to before i left Socorro, my beloved grocery clerk was struggling with this and i don’t know how it came out. She had made some really dumb choices in her life. Only one of which she defined for me…going to LasVagas and getting married one night and using a nick name instead of her “real”name and it had come to HAUNT her in this moment of obcessive documentation. She was in her 20’s…at the time of the telling in our grocery line, 40 something and had given up her wild ways. But here they were. and She couldn’t renew her driver’s license. I listened, thinking, well, thank god, not me. And here i am.
    I will travel out like a Ninja. Me and Tay in the little Honda named Minnow. We will float down Olive Highway and blend into city traffic, make our small way to the grocery the post office and back. That’s all we need. The grocery, the post office and back. and the MVD. We’ll see.

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  8. grace Forrest Avatar

    he worked on the Toyota Truck because it was our
    Evacuation truck. No. he will not work on the Honda Car.
    They are a pain.

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  9. grace Forrest Avatar

    what i wish you is that you don’t wait until February.
    GO EARLY. weeks early. you might luck out and have
    very easy past to present.
    I thought it would be simple. I’d gone through a lot of paper trail when i applied for Social Security and it was all good. But in this time, it’s not enough.
    So give yourself alot of time, IN CASE. It’s my waiting that has caused all this. My assuming.

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  10. grace Forrest Avatar

    o,Tina…of all the people in the World i wouldn’t want to be feeling “doomed” it’s you, your so so big Heart and capacity for Joy…
    I have come to a good place with things i think but i can’t yet give it words…need to wait till i am sure it’s genuine but i think we just need to be
    Steadfast.
    I think that is enough, and i KNOW for sure, you ARE
    steadfast in all that is good and loves life.
    Bless all our Hearts, yes? yes.

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  11. carol Avatar
    carol

    Whow, such a powerful post, and so many powerful responses. Quitting. Deciding the options, how much I can quit participating in something and still live my “life”. I have to continually ask myself if I am willing to live the consequences of “quitting”. As I age, and life moves at a pace that is not mine and it asks of me more than I can or wish to provide, the question always surfaces. Am I willing to live the consequences of “not providing the document/not filing the paper/not complying with the law”. So far, I have held my ground and complied, but every year becomes more difficult. My story: I am an unrecorded, home birth in Alaska before Alaska was a state. Obtaining a “birth certificate” the most basic of documents is a nightmare, that involved years, and money and tears. Every time I am required to provide a certified birth certificate, its a nightmare. You will get your documents Grace, your car will receive its fix, and you will perservere,(sp?) YOU ARE STEADFAST. xox

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  12. grace Forrest Avatar

    carol…this is
    BEAUTY FULL
    this caused a cry no cry for me….
    SO…tender and so REAL
    and so so much the sense of STEADFAST.
    we stand. because we ARE. Birthed at home, married out of crazy love, naming ourselves because it made SENSE and now
    and now
    that’s being called into question. The Beauty is being called into question.
    Repeat. The Beauty is being called into question. and so.
    and so.
    Steadfast.
    Thank you, carol, thank you beyond THANK YOU for this It helps me.
    it FEEDS me in my need to be Steadfast. Thank you

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  13. Nancy Avatar
    Nancy

    Well, I made an appointment for that Feb day and I am off work for the whole day and I have the paperwork to renew at hand (mine expires in April) – so for the renewal and the real ID…I’m hoping for the best.

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  14. Nancy Avatar
    Nancy

    Sending love Tina, I know the feeling.

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  15. Peggy McG Avatar
    Peggy McG

    Me too!! Too lengthy to go into detail but since August.. just received my updated license.. my daughter is mailing it UPS so i can go pick it up!! And then! The credit card company up and sends me a new card ..some breach somewhere.. so now.. an online order screwed up and online bills all need changing etc etc etc.. it takes energy i would rather put elsewhere!! And Daughter had to mail that to me too! I really like your word Steadfast. Fits so much better with all this than just going. It too will pass..but what will take its place!!

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  16. Peggy McG Avatar
    Peggy McG

    Ps I love the cloth with uneven edges! Color amongst the imperfect.

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  17. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes…how it sucks energy…herein is the Work.
    we can’t know what will take it’s place. We only might
    remain
    Steadfast.
    I will be writing a long Email in response to your
    GREAT letter
    New Years day.
    SUCH BIG LOVE to you

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  18. grace Forrest Avatar

    this Cloth is my Emblem

    Like

  19. Liz A Avatar

    I remember from my beginnings here … how you commented on my blog about the sound of tearing cloth … and I imagine you tearing strips, the sound of that … then laying them down, each in its own turn

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