It has come to pass(port)

Getting it has been on my to-do list for years. Using it has been on my to-do list for as long as I can remember.


Today, I applied for my first passport. Gunter has had his for several years, from his two mission trips to Honduras. I’ve been meaning to get mine for quite a while so I’d be ready, just in case anything came up. I wanted to be sittin’ on go in case I needed to got the opportunity to leave the country.

My day has come, all of a sudden and stampeding over me like a herd of crazed orangutans. (Found out about possibility of trip overseas on Tuesday before Thanksgiving, signed up and sent in deposit one week later.)

So I went to get my passport, and, as is customary anytime I’m faced with official paperwork, I hit a few small snags. (No, I didn’t get deported. Small snags.) There I was, thinking I was completely prepared. Filled out my application online and printed it out. Paperclipped it to my birth certificate, driver’s license and two perfectly sized color photos – 2” x 2”, head and shoulders on an off-white background, 1-1.38” from the top of my head to the bottom of my chin. Checks already written to the U.S. Department of State and the county clerk’s office. Lo and behold, the clerk’s office only takes cash and money orders.

So, I made a bank run and safely steered my way back around the precarious court square. Lady working in the clerk’s office also called to my attention that I was supposed to apply for the passport card or the passport book, not both. I assumed the passport card went inside the passport book, so I needed both. You live and learn.

Apply for passport – Check. Prepare for new experiences and trip of a lifetime – still working on it.