One of Those Days

Getting the paperwork stuff together and done for this cruise is making me C-R-A-Z-Y!! Since Casey and I have NEVER left the country before, we are first time passport seekers. We went at lunch yesterday, with the intention of turning in our applications for passports. I spent most of the two weeks before tracking down paperwork that we needed to take with us. I made a LOT of calls trying to make sure that we had EXACTLY everything we needed. As soon as we get there yesterday, we were informed that we had the wrong forms of birth certificates. ACK!! (This was after two different places told me what we had was fine!) Since we wanted to give them plenty of time to get back, we didn't want to have the birth certificates that we needed mailed to us. Instead, we headed off to Nashville to pick them up in person.

Now, is where it REALLY gets interesting. When Casey was 21 he officially had his name changed to his mother's maiden name, since he hasn't had any contact with his father. When the court order was made, he changed his social security status and his driver's license. The court was supposed to handle everything else. No one told him that he was supposed to go and have his birth certificate changed. Luckily we figured since his birth certificate said one thing and his driver's license another, we had better have an official copy of the court order with us through all of this. When we got there and explained everything with the court order, they said that "technically" since his birth certificate had never been ammended, that he was not "legally" who he had said he was for the past 15 years! YIKES!! Talk about an identity crisis. Luckily, we were in the right place to get all of that fixed. We payed them some money and the ammendment was underway. Now, he has to drive back in today and pick up his new official copy of his birth certificate. They were so nice in the office there. They had us all fixed up in a matter of minutes. I did leave with my copy, so that's one down and one to go. WHEW!!

I guess that we really got lucky that I was told the incorrect information. Better now and get it ALL fixed, instead of having his passport denied and missing our trip. It made for a REALLY FRUSTRATING day though. We were a touch grumpy by the time we got home. Hopefully when we go to the passport office tomorrow, everything will go smoothly: at least I'm keeping my fingers crossed.