Georgia Peach

Yesterday was a sad day for me. I had to do something that I've been putting off for three months. I woke up at the crack of dawn, reluctantly got dressed, got in my car, and drove to the driver's license facility to surrender my out of state license, and officially become....a Georgia Peach.
Now you might be saying whats the big deal. Well, blogworld, the big deal is that my Illionis license was the last thing I had that linked me to the place that I have known for the past 9 years. Growing up, my dad was in the Army and we had to move around alot. I never lived in one place for more than three years. When my parents divorced, my mom decided to move back to Illinois where I hadn't been since 2nd grade. I was so excited because I would finally be able to settle into a place and when someone asked me where I was from, I could just give them a straight answer instead of a long drawn out story beginning, "I was born in Chicago, but..." So finally being able to settle into a place and build long lasting friendships meant a lot to me. It meant that I could finally identify with a place and not feel like I was just passing through.
When I moved to Georgia four months ago, I knew that would have to get a Georgia license and license plate, but I didn't know that I would have to give up the one thing that proved "I'm from this place." I figured that I could keep my Illinois license as memorabilia of my established life. When I found out I couldn't keep it, I thought I could be slick and tell them I lost it. Then, I found out I would have to go through this long process of getting documentation from Illinois. It wasn't worth the time and effort. With a lump in my throat, that would have led to tears had the finest man in the world not been standing next to me, I just handed over the link to so many happy, sad, crazy, memorable moments.