The Quest for the REAL-ID

In a previous post, I talked about renewing my driver's license, learning that I will need a different one known as a REAL-ID in order to be allowed on any domestic airline after 10/1/2020, and being unable to find the documents I would need in order to get one.

Just FYI, I renewed my regular license while I continued to search for the necessary documents for the REAL-ID.  I needed my birth certificate, my marriage certificate proving my name change, my Social Security card, and two bills or statements in my name with my current address on them.  The only documents I couldn't find were my birth certificate and my marriage certificate--both of which are in my house, somewhere.  

As I age, I have come to realize that nothing is ever easy anymore.  Having turned the house upside down in the document search, I gave up and decided to send away for certified copies of the required documents.  First, I got online to see if I could request these documents and pay for the service through the Internet.  No such luck for the birth certificate from Illinois, but I found a site that would take $60 for my marriage certificate from Indiana.  Not gonna happen, even if I have to go there in person!  Decided to call both locations to determine their requirements.

The County Clerk's office in LaSalle County, Illinois, wanted a written letter with birth name, place, date, and $18 for a certified copy of my birth certificate.

The County Clerk's office in Putnam County, Indiana, wanted $2 and a self-addressed stamped envelope for a certified copy of my marriage certificate.  (I told the gal on the phone about the website that wanted $60.  She said that they had no knowledge of that.  Whew!)  At first, the gal I talked to insisted that they would not have my marriage certificate there, since my ex and I were both Illinois residents at the time.  I had to set her straight.  "No, ma'am.  We got our marriage license in Greencastle, IN, and were married in Greencastle, IN...and a local judge signed off on it.  There would be no record in Illinois."  She left the phone for a few minutes to check the records, then came back to the phone sounding a bit surprised.  "Well, I found it."  Hallelujah!

In short order, I sent off the written requests and received the certificates quite quickly.  Thus, for the total sum of $20, two phone calls, and cost of three postage stamps, I could finally gather my documents and head to the BMV to get the needed REAL-ID license, even though I had just renewed my license two weeks before.  A customer sitting next to me at the license branch heard my sob story about how the original documents were somewhere in my house but that I'd had to send away for replacements, commented, "You know the originals will show up now, right?"  She wasn't telling me something I didn't already know!

All of this trouble just to get an ID that will let me fly to Seattle and back after October of 2020.  Who knows if I'll even be alive then?  I suppose it didn't hurt that this whole debacle made me aware of how much I need to do in order to get my life in order. 

Now, to do my taxes for 2018.  Hope things aren't that complicated for this endeavor!