"I'm sorry but this is an invalid ID"

On April 23rd I turned 21 and now that it is summer and I am no longer under Trinity Expectations I am able to legally drink alcohol!! yay 4 me! So in order to celebrate this fact, I went out one night with friends to get a drink. I was excited cause it would be my first time using my ID and idk it was just kind of exciting to me to finally being able to go out with my friends to get some drinks.

I was with Andy and Pat and we drove to Jenny's house to pick her up. Before we left I received my first "please drink and drive responsibly" talk from Jenny's mom. I assured her that I was the designated driver and I would only being having one drink, so we should be fine. So after we were done talking to her parents, we left Jenn's house and drove to downtown Naperville. We decided to go to this place called Quigley's Irish pub- it was a pretty sweet place. Jenny and I were all excited and taking pictures with our ID's while also trying to figure out which drink we should order. Pat suggested that I get a Malibu Cranberry cause it was his cousin's (who was once a bar tender) favorite drink, so I decided that I would get it. The waitress came up and I was the first to order...



"I would like a Malibu Cranberry please" the waitress responded by saying "OK, can I see some ID?" I very willingly and happily gave it her since it was the first time I have been asked that question and she took it and looked at... she studied it for about a minute or so and I began to get a little nervous but I quickly assured myself that I was 21 so there should be no problem with my ID.. I was wrong.

The waitress looked up from my ID and said, "I'm sorry but this is not a valid ID" and handed me back my license. Confused and a little bit upset I asked, "What? Why?" she explained that a law was recently passed saying that once two weeks has gone by after a person has turned 21 and they still have yet to renew their license, it is no longer a valid ID. I couldn't believe it and responded by saying, "but it doesn't expire until July.. that doesn't make any sense" and she explained that I could have an older sister who just turned 21 and got a new license and then gave me her old one since it didn't expire for two more months... so it kind of makes sense but I still thought they could at least just ask for another type of identification like a school ID or credit card to make sure that I was the person listed on the ID, but I knew there was no sake in arguing with her so I just said to myself, "well I guess I won't be getting a drink tonight but at least I can sit here and enjoy time with my friends while they have their drinks" ... wrong again.

The waitress then informed me that this pub was "21 and older only" after 9:00 and since it was 9:30 and I was without a "valid" ID she was going to have to ask me to leave!! I couldn't believe it!! I actually just got kicked out of an Irish pub!!!

of course that would happen to me the first time I go out to get drinks..

however she suggested we go to the next township and try to get drinks there cause they probably would be less strict about the new rule, so we did & we went to this sketchy sports bar/pub place and successfully ordered drinks there instead :) we still had a good time tho & I finally was able to enjoy my Malibu Cranberry...



& I went and got my license renewed this morning :)

Grandpa Sorensen

I just received a phone call from my grandpa & his by far are the phone calls I enjoy the most!! They only last for a minute or so (I seriously think the longest conversation I had with him on the phone was 5 minutes) but they always leave a smile on my face :)

this last conversation went something like this:

A: Hello?
G: (in an excited voice) haha Why Hello!
A: Hi Grandpa! How are you?
G: oh I hope I didn't wake you up (laughs) -he is a little hard of hearing so he sometimes doesn't answer when you ask him questions lol
A: (laughing) No you didn't
G: so whats the good word? -he ALWAYS asks this question :)
A: well I just went and got my license renewed!
G: oh well good for you thats great! that reminds me of that one time when you were driving home from the south and you gave me a ring.. yeah that was really cute (I called him just to say hello when I was driving home from MO over a month ago)
A: haha yes well I am glad you enjoyed it
G: alright well just let your dad know that they are diggin' around here by my place so he can come on over if he'd like to see some dirt piles! - ahahaha he is SO cute!
A: OK Grandpa I will let him know!
G: Oh and while I am on the phone here talking to you, would you like to plant some flowers for me again like you did last year?
A: Sure, I'd be happy to!
G: oh alright then I'll start to figure out what I'd like to be out there
A: Sounds good just let me know
G: Alright honey well it was nice talking to you
A: you as well Grandpa, have a good day!
G: thanks you too, buh bye
A: bye!

I love the fact that the only reason he called was to report to my dad that there were a lot of dirt piles around his house & invited him to come over if he wanted to see :)

One time I visited him around lunch time and he asked if I would like to make myself a sandwich, I said yes and asked him if he had eaten yet, he said no but when I offered to make him one as well he said, "no thank you, I am gonna wait til the garbage man comes to take all my trash" lol it didn't make any sense to me at first but then I realized he probably does this every garbage day, he know that they come around lunch time so he sits at the table watching out the window waiting for them to come, and once they do he goes outside, gets the trash can, brings it into the garage and then makes himself lunch - he has a set schedule and he wasn't about to break it.

my grandpa lives such a great & yet simple life- he sits at home, watches the birds, squirrels, and chipmunks outside (he often makes voices for them as if he knows what they are saying to each other), occasionally he gets up to scare the geese away if there are any in his yard- he HATES geese lol, he people watches and observes the world around him in his cozy little home and waits for his son (my dad), daughter, &/or brother to come visit him or talks to them on the phone throughout the day. He receives much joy hearing from the ones he loves and its no wonder then why a simple phone call means the world to him, so much so that he will talk about for weeks after you called him.

It's these kinds a realization that push me to make more of an effort to call or visit my grandpa throughout the week, cause even just a minute of my time can really make his day. My grandpa truly is a valuable part of my life, & I want to make the most of every opportunity I have with him, while I still can.