I’m a huge procrastinator. Always have been. For example, this blog
should have been written on Friday but here it is Monday morning and I’m
typing while letting my hair dry and trying to eat breakfast so I can
get to work. That pretty much sums up how I roll. Maybe I like being
under pressure, maybe I’m just lazy. Doesn’t matter – I’ve always been
this way. Sometimes my habits come back to haunt me.
I recieved a letter from my mom via snail mail and she had forwarded
something for me from the DuPage County Clerk’s Office. It was a summons
for jury duty – in the state of IL. I looked at it and thought, “Oh I
have to call them since I no longer live there,” and it went in THE
PILE. I’m sure most of you have a PILE – mail, things to do and
file,etc. that somehow end up on the buffet, on the table or on the
counter. So of course I forgot all about it. Until last week.
I looked at my jury summons and thought “Oh gee whiz (that’s not what
really went through my head, but this is a family show), I have to do
this NOW, because they want me to possibly report on Monday (it was
Wednesday), in IL. So I called and spoke to Ms. Jury Lady. Basically I
needed to prove to her that I was living in MD, not in IL. Seems pretty
easy right? Well thanks to my procrastination this became a serious
issue. Let me elaborate.
My husband is in the Army and by law I am not required to change my
residency. I never changed my legal residency to MD for a few reasons
that I’m not going into here – but it should be obvious that for a
procrastinator going through all the steps this entails is like asking
someone who is afraid of heights to cross the Bay Bridge in a
convertible. Also, I have been married for 16 years and in that time I
never changed my last name – legally. Meaning that the name attached to
my social security number was my maiden name, Moran. According to Ms.
Jury Lady, I needed to send her a driver’s license or state ID with my
maiden name and MD address attached to it (strike one), a mortgage or
utility bill with my maiden name and MD address on it (strike 2) OR a
pay stub……with my maiden name on it (strike 3). So as I type this I’m
on my way to IL for jury duty! KIDDING!!!!!!
Somehow over the years I had managed to get my married name on my
driver’s license, passport, tax forms and payroll but NOT on my social
security card/statements. So, since I was registered in the IL jury pool
as Moran and needed to prove I was now Bojan, living in MD. I had to
take a trip to the SS office, where I waited for 2 1/2 hours with about
five hundred other people. Suffice it to say, that people waiting here
were not exactly warm, fuzzy and happy! When my number was finally
called to see if I had all the correct documents to get a new SS card I
was given another number to wait until I was called to actually get the
process rolling. Are you tired yet? A short while later, all was right
in the world and I was officially Kelly Bojan. I made copies of things,
faxed everything to Ms. Jury Lady and am hoping there is not a bench
warrant out for my arrest in the Land of Lincoln. I was so proud of
myself for finally changing my name that I couldn’t wait to tell Mark
when he came home. He is an attorney and his response to me was “Well,
legally you didn’t change your name, you only changed the name attached
to your social security number. To legally change your last name you
need to appear before a judge and go through that process. ” I missed
him with the frying pan. I wonder how many years that would take me if I
decided to go for it?
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