My Recent Move Made Me Question My Existence
I've discovered my new mailing address is lost in governmental limbo
Every Tuesday: a new story plus the week’s odds and ends
Musings & Tales: Schrödinger’s Address
Technology exists to make our lives easier, right? Maybe — but not when it comes to proving you live where you live if your house doesn’t exist in a government file.
We’re still settling into the new house (yes, still — apparently unpacking has no natural end point), and I hit a wall I genuinely did not see coming: our address, assigned years ago by the county, doesn’t officially exist as far as the post office, the DMV, or seemingly anyone else is concerned. Not “hasn’t been updated yet.” Doesn’t exist. Real and not real, depending entirely on which government office you happen to be talking to that day.
I went in thinking this would be a fifteen-minute fix. A form, a signature, done. Instead I found myself standing in a post office explaining county paperwork to a clerk who looked at me like I’d wandered in from another planet, and then discovering the county’s own DMV office has zero appointments available for the foreseeable future.
This week’s musing is the whole saga — the post office, the DMV, the utility companies who somehow simultaneously recognize and reject the same address — and what it taught me about the gap between what technology promises and what it actually delivers.
I called it “Schrödinger’s Address.” You’ll see why.
Listen to this week’s Musings & Tales
Schrödinger's Address
After our recent move, I discovered my government-assigned address means nothing to the post office, the DMV, or anyone else until each office decides, on its own schedule, to accept it. A Schrödinger's address, if you will, real or not depending on your perspective.
Prefer to read? Schrödinger’s Address is free on my website.
Musings & Tales publishes every Tuesday on all major podcast apps.
From the Facebook Files
A little something extra from last week’s socials
This buck is certainly a confident fellow. Kept a close eye on us — two humans and three canines — as we passed him on the trail but showed no signs of retreating.
Maybe it’s those velvety antlers growing from his head, a sure sign that autumn is closer than it feels. I bet he will be even more confident and magnificent then.
Thanks for your time
Thank you, as always, for reading my scribblings. Or listening, if that was your path.
Until next week,
Happy reading