It all started when I realized I was running out of time for getting an international driver's license. It was on my To-Do list, but not very high. It takes about six weeks to obtain - or at least that is what they said at AAA a few weeks ago when I called to inquire. It dawned on me this afternoon that I would need to get the paperwork started before I left for Lithuania or I might not be getting one at all.
I really have no intention of driving in Europe at all, but it seems like a good idea to have a back-up. It is one thing to decide not to drive for three or four weeks; it is another altogether to decide not to drive for over a year. How will I survive? I will certainly miss my little green Mustang. Apparently, it is absolutely not a good idea to drive while under the influence in most European countries. In Romania, the first time one is stopped and it is determined one is under the influence the driver's license is yanked, never to be seen again. There is no slapping of the hands, no first offense leniency. I see where it may come in handy to be in a position to drive if the need arose.
I also think that given time, I will come to understand the rules of the road on that side of the pond. I have never driven over there, but I have managed to be involved in four accidents so far - one in a tour bus! I want to see much of Europe while I am there and it seems that I might find a friend to drive with and sharing the driving is always an idea.
I thought about all of this at 4pm on Friday afternoon. I called AAA to see if it was possible and the lady said they would be open until 6 and it "only takes a few minutes." That sounded good, so I headed for Ann Arbor. Two passport-type pictures and $28. later, and I am filling out a form to get my license. Interesting questions they ask. Like my phone number. I can not afford an international phone and I imagine I am not alone. Why would the authorities ask for the number for a phone that, in all liklihood, will be left in the states and will be absolutely useless in the case of an emergency?
Why do passport pictures always look like mug shots??? Thank heavens this license is only good for a year. Maybe I can spruce up for my picture next year.
Upon returning home, I thought I should put this new document in with my passport for safe-keeping. I have kept passports and birth certificates in a cookie tin for about thirty years. The same cookie tin. My grandmother gave me the tin and I guess that is why it has never been lost. So I open the tin to put the new license in and my current passport is not in there. My college passport is there. I actually looked pretty good in that picture. My hair was to my waist then and I wore it loose. It was quite a mane then. My passport from a quick trip to Chicago one day thirteen years ago was there. I ran into the photo shop across from the passport office at 8AM after driving since midnight. The picture looked awful - I can see why that person would have been "chosen" every single time she was at the airport. Nick and Jon's passports were in the tin. But where was my most recent, actually valid passport? The one I needed on Monday morning? In light of recent issues with US passports, I actually got a bit nervous. Where could my passport be? I had it out to check the expiration date about three weeks ago after talking to another teacher who had to make the trek to Chicago to get a new passport on the spot. Six weeks and fifteen weeks are apparently similar time frames for the passport office. I can't imagine how they will ever get the passport issues cleaned up if they ever get caught up. I am sure they never realized how many passports they were going to have to issue with the new law.
As I leave for the airport at 8:30 on Monday morning, I really don't have time to make an emergency trip to Chicago. Had someone actually broken into my house and stolen my passport? That does seem a bit ridiculous. How would that person know where to look? If someone were to do that, it would seem that I would see the detritous of the search, but I had seen none. I have never advertised where I keep them and so to find them immediately seems a stretch. I am trying to keep it together. I remember thinking that I should start accumulating everything for the first trip. I remember putting it in one of those zippered pouches from a conference I attended this year. It was black and had a neck string. The bag had been in the top desk drawer. It wasn't there now because it was in a new, safe place. Oh, how I despise safe places.
I searched every room in the house. It had to be on my desk somewhere. As the desk has been a repository for some time, I had a monuental task ahead of me. It was at least a foot high everywhere, and much of it was closing in on two feet.
It took a few hours but I can now see the desk surface. There is only a single pile of things to do when I return later in the month. Still no passport. I am still relatively calm. I had seen it not too long ago. The only place it can be is in a box in the garage or in Jim's barn, or else in the trash. Neither of those are god options so I think again about where I had it last. I look around the office. Then it dawns on me. Did I put it in with the Fulbright bag when I went to Orientation in Cleveland two weeks ago? I have searched everywhere and that has to be it. Low and behold, I had packed it with the notes and files I took to Cleveland in case I would need a copy of it for my files.
I really needed to clean off my desk, but that certainly wasn't how I wanted to get it done. I am more organized now. Everything is filed away to take with on this trip, the next trip, or for next year. It feels really good to have that done and to have found my passport.
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