Never?

 Incredulous. 

That was the reaction I received from my wife. The woman who has known me since Ronald Reagan was president. A great portion of that time we have shared meals, bills, and lists of household repairs. How could it have slipped her notice that I do not have a passport?

Well, as it turns out, I am currently in the process of acquiring one. That didn't keep my wife from exclaiming at each juncture along the way, "How can this be?"

Never smoked a cigarette. Never had a cup of coffee. Never used Chapstick. You can go ahead and add having a passport to that list.

Then take it right off because all of that is about to change. The passport stuff, not the cigarettes, coffee or Chapstick. I have officially applied for a United States Passport. I made the appointment at my local post office. Or a nearby post office, since as it turns out part of the many hoops through which one must jump in order to attain that little blue book is to find a place that will assist in procuring this very important document. 

In the days leading up to my appointment, I kept pestering my wife about the location of my birth certificate, and if she wouldn't mind so very much taking a two inch by two inch photo of my head to past on the application. Each of these requests was met with a pause, and then an exasperated repeat of the phrase, "You don't already have a passport?"

Well, no. I have lived a rather full life safely within the boundaries of those places where I would not require additional documentation to go. When I went to Mexico, and I have been to Mexico, On four separate occasions. All of these excursions took place before 2008 when the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative was put in place. The same can be said of the detour my brothers and I made with my dad on a road trip home from New York that found us spending a few chilly but amusing hours in Canada. 

No passport. 

Can you believe that? 

My wife, the seasoned and veteran traveler has smoked a cigarette, drank a cup of coffee and used Chapstick. She also has her very own passport. So much so that she found herself in need of getting hers renewed. Renewed to the tune of it having been expired. 

Can you believe that? 

So, a few weeks from now with the good graces of the U.S. State Department, we will find ourselves aligned once again. 

No Chapstick for me.