I am beginning to learn that there are stages of adjustment when you move. The first I would call “settling-in”. It’s in this time that basics are established.  And after four months of transition the “settling-in” process is finally over.

For us that required some simple things like adjusting to time differences, weather, food options, schedule, locations of needed resources etc. But then there were also more complicated items. Luke has done all this before and the second we got to our little rented home in Corning he was busy calling and emailing companies to get our : gas, electric, cable, water, trash, and washer and dryer installed etc.

Last but not least on our “settleing-in” list was the DMV.  I ended up going to the DMV three times! Once to get Luke a NY license, once to get me a NY license, and last of all to get my car registered.

When my new license came in the mail it felt strange to see a proper twenty-something face staring back at me on the blue ID . My yellow California license still had a 16-year-old tanned version of me with a red bar showing what year I would be turning 21. My new grown up NY driver’s license was reminder not only that my last name has changed but also that I have really moved to the opposite coast!

This isn’t the only reminder.  In the cloudy northwest I proudly represented the sunnier state of California with my cherry red car with red and white Hawaiian seat covers and floor mats. We got my CRV used but the owners before were Californians. So it really hit me strange when Luke replaced the California plates for yellow and blue New York ones. (In case your wondering the Hawaiian seat covers are long gone but the floor mats are still getting good use).

All of sudden I have a New York car!  It’s days of being beach bound filled with sand (CA) or covered in pine needles and cherry blossoms (WA) is over (for now). Instead my car has experienced its first real winter covered in snow, defrosted and frosted over again and again, covered in road salts, and icicles.

We spend a lot of our time in our cars; they are often our second home. My little CRV has been up and down the west coast I-5 several times on trips to and from college. And recently it crossed the country towed on the back of the Penske truck full of my belongings.

Who knows what type of travels/road trips will come next for my car? Or what other license plates or state driver’s license I may have in the future.  But for right now as far as anyone can tell: I am a New Yorker!