The Magical Card

Let me begin this post with a simple fact: I have never, in my adult life, possessed a Social Security Card. This is distinct from the actual number, which I have had memorized since high school. In all previous interactions, knowledge of the number has been sufficient. A partial list of the transactions includes enlistment into the Army, enrollment in college, collecting VA benefits, a BATFE explosives license, a Concealed Handgun License, every job I've ever had, several mortgages, and all the other numerous impediments of modern life that require a SSN to navigate. I have managed to make it into my 4th decade of life in this country without ever having the card itself. I kind of figured I didn't really need one at this point.

I was wrong. So I spent my lunch hour a few weeks ago at the Social Security Administration waiting to spend 3 minutes talking to the guy at the SSA about a new card. Yay me! I now have a shiny new card in the mail to verify the number I've been using my entire life.

This came up because of some paperwork I have been filling out with the state of Texas. We all agree that the number I have provided matches the person I claim to be, and that I am, as thoroughly as any of us can tell, the person referenced in the system by that number. All the rest of the paperwork involved has demonstrated beyond any shadow of a doubt the linkage, in the mind of the government, of that number with my physical being. Trust me when I tell you: given the amount of paperwork I have done with the state recently, they'd have figured out if me and my SSN didn't match.

This doesn't really matter. I still have to produce a copy of the actual card, because somewhere it is so written. The card must be produced, and woe unto him with no card. So I now have something I've never before needed. Can't you smell my excitement?