One of the "benefits" of my divorce was being granted permission by the United States Army to be issued a pseudo-military ID to access the hospital for my son. Along with this dubious honor I get to make an annual drive to Ft. Lewis to renew my ID, such as I did today. In the rain. And sleet. And snow showers. Oh what fun.
I got there at a good time (read as no waiting), walked in prepared to say "cheese" for the camera, when the girl behind the desk asks me, "Would you like to keep the same picture?" Now where the hell was she when I took my first military ID photo? The one that made me look hot, skinny, and kinda sexy. This last one. Let's just say it was, maybe, if you've got your beer goggles on, one step above my hideous driver's license photo. I asked if I had to keep it and she told me I could take a new one. A new one it was. And, although I didn't smile much, it's a million times better than the previously mentioned pictures.
So fast forward to dinner. WJ asks about my day, and what I did, so I tell him that I went to get my new ID. Which leads me to wondering where his ID went. I dug around looking for it and stuck it back in my wallet where it should be.
"That's not my ID," he says. "It's supposed to be white."
"No, that's my ID that's white. This is yours."
"Can I see your new one?"
"Sure," I say as I head over to my wallet to dig it out.
"Oooh! That looks great, Mom. And look. There's your other ID," he comments while looking at my hideous driver's license photo.
"Yuck!" I reply. "That ugly thing?"
"It's not ugly, Mom."
"It is to me. Do you know why?"
"No... why?" he asks.
"I was 32 lbs. heavier in that picture." And I held them up side by side, next to me. "Which Mommy do you like better?" I asked.
"I like YOU!" he replied.
Some day my son will be a politician.
I stopped and really looked at my driver's license picture. Really looked at it. It's not flattering in the least. And it repulsed me. My weight listed was 185, and that was probably a stretch - I was more like 190 at the time but wouldn't admit it. That me is gone. In so many ways. Put away in the past.
I've come a long way. And I'm still forging ahead!
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4 comments:
Do I need to scan my DL photo in and something more recent? Come onsilly...it's just a photo the cops see...or in your case the Circle K nutjob who doesn't think you're 21 yet :)
What I'm trying to say is not to define your life by your DL photo....Stick with mirror and jeans.
I'm not defining by any picture. Good Lord, if I did that, I would locked myself in the house years ago and never came out. I was simply saying with you look at things next to each other like that, you can clearly see the difference. And since I'm one of those who just doesn't see "reality" all that clearly, it was an eye opener. And a clear impression of what I DON'T want to be again.
Make sense?
Kids love you no matter what, huh? Which is wonderful. It gives us a reason to strive to be better.
I'm glad you got your stuff done yesterday (insert I told you so right here!)!
hehehe
They do indeed! :D
I'm glad too considering I felt even less like doing anything today than I did yesterday. Ugh!
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