Paperwork and Adventure, part B

So, on the day of our wedding we had an adventure in calling 911 twice (see Adventure, part A). Well, this adventure has an interesting part B. But this part B occurred at the end of another interesting day, so let me start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.

It is Thursday, July 14, and I have a lot of paperwork to get worked out. Since Monday Stephanie and I have been working on all kinds of paperwork (name changes, my transfer of residency from NY, etc.). I have, Lord willing, three tasks to complete today:

Task One

One of the things I had to do for Westminster was go to the county board of education (BOE) to give them my finger prints for a background check. So onWednesday I drove to the BOE downtown to give them my prints. Well, they digitally scan finger prints now (instead of inking them) and the computer froze and I had to come back the next day! So now it’s Thursday. I drive downtown again and thankfully they are able to get my prints without any difficulty. Whew!!! First task complete. 🙂

Task Two

My next task is to go to the GA DMV. This is the task I have now way of knowing how it’s going to go. It should be easy to register my vehicle, right? Well, onTuesday (two days before) Stephanie and I had gone to the DMV to do necessary paperwork. She was able to change her name on her car title and registration and I was going to register my car and get GA plates. Well, apparently New York is what they call a “non-title holding state” (they even politely showed me a non-descript little piece of paper that proved this) and I would need to present the DMV with a NY title for my car. I didn’t think I had one of these (nobody ever told me I needed to get one up in NY), but I had a vague recollection that maybe I had what they wanted. I certainly didn’t have it with me then, so I’d have to come back later—hence why I was going there now, on Thursday.

In research I had done in preparation for this second visit to the DMV, it turned out that I was correct and I had never gotten a NY title for my car and the lien holder on the car still had the original GA title on file—it was still valid and I still had a “attested true” copy of that title. Cool! The lien holder suggested I would need a registration manifest (or something like that) from the NY DMV to show to the GA DMV. Hmm…ok. I called the NY DMV mid-day Thursday. Can I get a registration manifest? Yes? Good! Could they fax it to me now? Yes? Great! I gave them the school fax number and expected to get it in an hour!

It’s Thursday afternoon now and I’m on my way to the GA DMV. I did NOT have the registration manifest with me because the school fax was out of ink. Oh well—I am going to the GA DMV anyway because it’s near the BOE where I got my fingers scanned. I’m hoping they will accept my copy of the GA title of my car and my NY registration cards. I get to the DMV and walk in with all of my paperwork. The lady who is attending me is very polite and helpful. She’s baffled about what to do because I’m moving from NY but I don’t have a NY title. She consults with a coworker who thinks it will be ok to just take the NY registration. She’s still not sure what to do, so she goes to consult with a manager.

The manager comes out with the lady who was attending me. They are both very nice and polite and affirm that I should have had a NY title for my car, but they can indeed register my vehicle in GA—hurray!!—but since I didn’t go through the correct channels (i.e. I don’t have a NY title) I owe GA taxes on my car since 2008, which is over $200!!!—huh?!?! Oh no!!! A glimmer of hope comes in the voice of a another DMV worker who offers that since I’ve paid taxes in another state, I shouldn’t owe it in GA (“Oh, please!!, oh, please!!!,” I’m thinking) The manager asks me to take a seat while she double- (or triple-) checks this information.

Needless to say I’m a bit nervous. I don’t want to pay hundreds in taxes, but I do want to be a GA resident. I pray fervently for what feels like 10 minutes or more. The manager calls me back up and says that, because I had proof of registration in NY from 2008 to the present I won’t need to pay any taxes—I merely need to pay for the new plates! Hurray! Hallelujah!!! What an answer to prayer! Needless to say, I’m thrilled! Task two is completed!

Task Three and Part B

Now on to task three: mail my old NY plates back to NY so that I can cancel my NY insurance policy. The downtown post office is nearby, so I change the plates on my car and drive to the post office.  First, I decide that I need to wipe off the NY plates because they are dirty, and it seems best to me to mail clean plates 😀 .  I park the car at the post office and start cleaning the plates outside the car with some clorox wipes.

Now, this is where two very unexpected things occur. First, I notice a young man loitering by the entrance to the post office. I know this young man—his name is James (not Churchill 😉 )! Back in February, while I and my parents were visiting in Augusta, when he had asked for money to go to a shelter we instead had offered to take him to a shelter! De ja vu!!!!! I do a double take. Yup. It’s James. He actually notices me and comes and asks for $3. He doesn’t seem to recognize me, though, and I’m not going to give him money and don’t feel I could take him anywhere being I’m by myself. So James walks off.

The second unexpected thing: no sooner had James walked off when a familiar police golf cart pulls up to the post office. Is that…? Could it be…? WOW, that’s the same policeman who came to help Stephanie and me at the River Walk when we called 911 on those men! De ja vu!!! I do another double take. The policeman drives off in the direction that James walked and I figure he was called because of James. This is weird 😀 two people from two completely different events have just met in one single event!

Pondering the odd turn of events, I walk into the post office and get in line to mail my plates. While I’m in line, I notice the policeman is back and talking to one of the post office employees about some young man who was cussing at her when she asked him to stop loitering at the post office. I hear the description of the man and know they are talking about James. I step out of line as I see the policeman is about to leave. “Excuse me, officer…” and I proceed to share with the policeman what I know about James 😀

“Don’t I know you?”, the policeman says to me. Why yes, we were the ones that called you at the River Walk. The policeman smiles, “Oh, yes, how was the honeymoon?” I tell him it was just fine. I ask him if he knows anything about the men we had called about. On the first man (who was really bad off), all he can tell me is that he was taken to the hospital. Of the second man, he says it was Mr. Ortega, a homeless man, and that he was merely passed out. He had Mr. Ortega dump out the open beer can he had and then took him to a shelter, where he presumably still was staying. We finish up our conversation and the policeman wishes me well and extends greetings to my wife 😀

So that was a completely unexpected, interesting ending to a very full afternoon! It still makes me shake my head and wonder at God’s timing! My only regret is that I didn’t get the policeman’s name 🙁 But that’s probably ok. Chances are that I’ll meet him again sometime soon. I wonder when?