Reflections by Phil Ellenberger

Archived in the category: Featured Writers, General Info, Reflections
Posted by Joyce Rhyne on 16 Mar 17 - 0 Comments

If you have ever written anything you have had writer’s block. If you haven’t, try writing something and you will get it for sure. I work with a computer and word processor rather than an old fashioned typewriter. I didn’t get as much block with those old fashioned things. Mainly because it was so easy to make mistakes with them. You were always antsy when you were working with them. You really didn’t want to make mistakes and have to either start over or erase and probably tear paper with your eraser.

As a result, your mind was active and you would be really up on your toes. Even so you made mistakes, but you didn’t stare at the blank computer screen and wonder what to type. The secret to success is to start typing any old gibberish and then pretty soon something will come to you. Viola, it worked this time too! There is no charge for this little inside tip to the writing business.

Many you have deduced that I am on the Autumn side of life. As such I have been working for several decades with a valid drivers license. The thing about those licenses is that you have to renew them every so often. It turns out that they have also been working for years as my identification. How many times have they asked you to show your drivers license? It is just plain often.

Now sometimes you can renew them on line. That means you might not have to pass the eye test. I was hoping to do that this time. However, it was not to be. I received a letter from the bureau saying that this time I had to go in. It also said bring identification like a birth certificate or a current passport. Notice it wasn’t my drivers license, which has been my ID for years.

I guess it’s like for my Professional Engineer license, where last year they made me go get fingerprinted after decades to see if I was a crook on some criminal file. They just don’t trust their own systems.

If I find my birth certificate it will be over 80 years old and my foot print will be of a little baby’s foot. There would be little way to compare it to my current print. For the record I let my passport expire because I am not planning on going anywhere needing a passport in the future.

This means that there is a possibility that I won’t have enough identification to prove this old man is really a citizen. While I was complaining about this state of affairs to my daughter, who is visiting here, she pointed out that it probably means they want to deport me.

There are a lot of folks they want to deport. I simply have to prove to the bureaucrats that I am not one of them. I am scrambling to get the stuff. If I am not successful I hope to get deported to Tahiti.

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