Today I had the great pleasure of visiting the DMV for the first time since I had my license renewed five years ago. Everything really had been going smoothly until I was called up to take my new license picture.

I looked at the blue dot and smiled.  A few seconds after sitting down in the waiting area the man who had taken my picture called out to me saying, “One of your eyes was closed in the picture.”  I stood up to retake the picture when he said, “You can’t retake it, it says right here all you need is one eye to be open for a valid picture.  Just don’t do that while you’re driving.”

I sat back down in utter defeat.  My brow furrowed, all I could think about were the looks on the faces of all the people who I would have to hand my license to. I looked as if I was about to cry.

A couple of minutes passed and my license finished printing.  I walked up to the counter, and the man handed me my license with a big grin on his face.  The joke was on me.  He was kidding.  The picture was just fine, and I laughed out loud.

Life had caught me taking it too seriously.  Getting upset about a bad license picture, really?  Getting upset about the prospect of a bad picture on your license is like getting upset about the prospect of having to listen to smooth jazz during call waiting.  It will probably happen, and it can do nothing to hurt you.  And sometimes, as in my case, you get a mixed message about a situation, when everything is fine all along. Either way, make sure to laugh about it.