Not Good Enough

Last week, the girls were slated to take the CLEP (College Level Examination Program) Test to get college credit for Freshman English. Like a very poor role model, I left some details to the morning of the test, including stopping at the bank on the way to the test to retrieve the girls' passports kept in the lock box. To take the test, you are required to have a photo ID.

Again, showing my superb organizational skills, I was brought up short by a dark bank with a sign declaring it closed for Columbus Day. Just great! I don't really understand the connection between Columbus and bank holidays, but this really threw a monkey wrench in the morning.

Returning home, I called the testing center which adamantly refused to budge on their rule that test takers must present a valid, government-issued, photo i.d. Lauren had her learning permit for driving, but Anna had no other i.d.

I can tell you the exact hour of the day of the week she was born, in what hospital and the doctor that delivered her. I can tell you that I was the first human to touch her head. I could show records charting her growth, tell you what her favorite foods are, and how she has little freckles on her nose. I can tell you her clothes size, her shoe size and that she prefers long tunics to short tops. But that, that isn't good enough.

Instead, I could take a valid birth certificate (which has no photo, so could be anyone's birth certificate) to the courthouse, get her photo taken and that government employee could issue a photo i.d. swearing that the person in the photo has the name on the card. But the mother of the child? No, that's not good enough for identification purposes.

Anna was rather relieved, wanting to take the test at a later date anyway. She smiled as I told her that they'd let Lauren, but not her, take the test. Myself, I will not wait next time until test day to have all my details covered.

P.S. Lauren passed, and now has 6 hours college credit!