I’m not a citizen without it
It seems I’m going to be doing a lot of running around during my first week in California: I have to apply for a California driver’s license, both because the school requires it and because my current one expires this November. I was also supposed to go back to Barbados this winter for the first time in 7 years, for a family reunion, but apparently someone misplaced my certificate of citizenship, so I can’t get a passport, and have to apply for a new one. That’s going to cost me $220! Then I have to wait, probably for a year or more, to get the certificate, before I can apply for the passport. Then that’s another $100. I have to do all of this without a car.