Story time. But I'll try to keep it short...
I have not had more than 20 minutes away from Campbell since we got here a month ago. That's what happens when you have no one to babysit. I really needed a night out with my husband. He's been working with an older lady awhile now who is very sweet and has grandbabies of her own, so after 2 months of working with her, Blake convinced me to let her keep her for a few hours.
Date night, here we come. So we went out to a pretty popular bar and grill restaurant out here and had dinner. I did order a mixed drink and when the girl asked for my i.d., she looked at it forever as if it were a fake. I assumed because it was from all the way across the country. But eventually she accepted it and brought me a drink. No big deal.
Well after dinner, we decided to hang out at the bar for just a little while longer since it was still early and I could have one more drink. Don't judge me, I never do this; but it was my first night out in a month and the first night out with my husband in two months.
So of course, the bartender asked for our i.d.'s before we even ordered drinks. She took a quick glance and said I'm sorry but I can't serve you. Ummm why? It's because I have one of those vertical licenses. She said it didn't matter that I was of age and it wasn't a fake, it's their policy not to accept them. So now I know why that girl looked so unsure earlier.
I'm a little taken aback, my husband is ticked.
I had no clue that having a license like that is a problem. I have never had a problem with it before and it's been like that for years. I've bought wine at the grocery store once or twice since we've been out here with no problem.
So we decide to stop by Applebee's and see if maybe it's a different story there. No such thing. They won't take it either. This is when I start to get a little emotional. I'm almost 23 years old. I have a valid driver's license with my birth date and it plainly says "under 21 until" with the date I became legal to drink. They don't even look at my birthday. They won't accept it just because of the way it's designed.
Because come to find out, having a vertical license is supposed to signify that you are under 21. It's supposed to go back horizontal when you turn 21. That didn't happen for me. I have updated my license twice since I turned 21 and neither time has it been changed to horizontal. I had no clue that it was different. I thought everyone's license looked like that. I have never had a problem with it at home when I ordered a drink.
So I started to tear up a little bit. Not because I couldn't drink. I didn't care about that. It was the fact that on my first night out with a proper babysitter in 2 months, I, a legal adult, was unable to exercise one of my American rights because my license wasn't the right kind of freaking license.
I've cooled down now; we've looked up the laws and seen that this happens a good bit. South Carolina is relatively new to this vertical/horizontal thing and I'm pretty sure they just failed to make my license horizontal when I came of age. But how many people even knew that's what that was for? My husband and I sure as heck didn't.
I know it doesn't sound like that big of a deal. It was mostly the principle of the thing. It hurt to be singled out for a problem I didn't even know I had. Out of all the things that could go wrong this far away from home, I can honestly say I didn't see that one coming. And even though I had as much a right to have a drink as anyone else, I was denied the right to do so.
There are some things that are completely out of our control. In those situations, you really just have to rise above it and take the high road. I could have fussed and yelled at that bartender. I know a lot of people who would have. In the end though it wouldn't have helped me a lick. I'm pretty sure that even though she wouldn't accept my license, they wouldn't have a problem with it when I was getting locked up in jail for disorderly conduct lol.
I'm learning to just take things in stride and be thankful that was the biggest problem I had that night.
In the end, I still got to be with my husband and focus solely on him for a few hours. It hurt us both to have to handle something like that, something we had no power over. But at the end of the night when I was crying and frustrated, he was there for me. And when we picked up Campbell, she was so happy to see us both that I forgot about everything else that had happened.
When things aren't going our way, we tend to dwell on them and let them control our emotions. We forget sometimes the things that really matter when something goes wrong. Embrace the things in life that make you happy, there will always be things to upset you and make you mad. But there will also be someone or something to make it better.
Love makes everything else seem so small.
-Barbie