10/25/2025
Who knew the DMV would turn out to be the most honest newsroom in town?
I finally—finally—have my new Virginia driver’s license and Real ID. This has been a long time coming, y’all. Legal name changes, court filings, birth certificate runarounds—it’s been a whole journey. But today, I walked into that DMV and had the kindest, smoothest experience. The people working there were polite, efficient, and gracious.
But what really hit me wasn’t the paperwork. It was the conversations.
That room was packed, and not a single person was not talking about the cost of living.
Families figuring out how to share housing to survive.
Someone trying to choose between their car payment and rent.
People wondering if moving to another county might ease the pressure.
And of course—groceries. Everybody is feeling it.
I didn’t need to turn on the news to know people are hurting.
I just had to sit in the waiting room and listen.
What’s even harder is knowing the economic forecasters I follow are warning that the next six weeks may bring more increases—especially as big companies start passing the full brunt of tariffs down to consumers. In other words: the worst of it may not have hit us yet.
And still, we’re expected to keep moving, keep working, keep acting like it’s all normal.
But it’s not normal.
It’s hard. And it’s getting harder.
If you’re feeling the strain—you’re not imagining it. You’re not alone. And you’re not doing anything wrong.
You’re living through a system that was never designed to support everyday people—and it shows.
