Adventures in GALing

[AntoniaB]

Alright, I'm gonna make a proclamation. 18-19 months.

That's the time frame for me that it took to feel NORMAL again. Not that I don't still feel totally off, or abnormal, or messed up, from the fallout of the bomb and the divorce. The divorce fallout rears its ugly head all the time, like today, when I went to renew my drivers' license, and I had a freaking birth certificate, and 5 proofs of residence, and a social security card, and my current license, and I was told, "YOU NEED TO SHOW US A MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE."

Umm....nowhere online or in the letter you sent me did you say this. But apparently because my name changed when I was MARRIED in 1991, and it's different than the name on my birth certificate (though it is really NOT, all I did was drop out my birth middle name), I have to PROVE my name change. No matter that I could not possess a social security card with my married and current name on it, which could ONLY transpire if I had once been married, now I have to pay MORE money to get a marriage certificate, as the copy I have is not sufficient, nor are the countless forms of current ID that I have with that name sufficient.

Does XH deal with any of this? No.

Now my license says "NOT FEDERALLY COMPLIANT" across it.

And yet, it says it is "good" till 2020.

???

Just one more thing that does not close the chapter on the ugly part of my life...

But in spite of all that, there have been several moments of "normal" this week...which is the reason for my posting, that I'm thinking that close to the 2 year mark, you will begin to feel somewhat normal.

When I first came on this board, it was important to me that someone put a time frame on things if possible.

So this is what I'm doing. I don't know if it helps anyone or not, but it isnt' just me, I also read an article online that said that close to the 2 year mark, you begin to feel normal.

Hope that helps someone :-)