Times are Changing!

My how times have changed. Last Tuesday, Mark and I went to the DMV to get our enhanced driver's licenses. We had to bring birth certificates, our current driver's licenses, some pieces of current mail from a federal or offical business....i.e. home owner's insurance policy, health insurance bill, etc. to prove we are Washington residents. We knew it would be long....but not 3 hours and 45 minutes. We met another couple waiting to get theirs and they told us they were moving 3 people an hour for the enhanced DL. At that moment we had about 15 people ahead of us. I had assumed that since the Vancouver Olympics were over, there wouldn't be so many people applying.

When we finally got up to the window, it took about 5 minutes to take our application, and other documents. Next, we waited a little over 1/2 hour while they take our paperwork into another room to run it through a computerized security checkout. After that you get your picture taken where they use Biometric Metric identification where they use special digital technology to focus in on my special facial features....eye sockets, cheekbones, and sides of the mouth. The photo is reduced to digital code. This helps prevent ID theft and ID duplication. When you get your enhanced DL. it will also have a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag embedded into the license that stores certain data on it. At the border data can be retrieved from my license where they match my information with their records. The enhanced driver's license is good to cross borders with Canada, Mexico, and the Carribean by land or sea travel only....not by air.

I also learned that I would never be able to just take grandchildren with me across the Canadian or Mexican border without written consent of their parents, preferably notarized. Also, one parent can not take his or her very own child without a written consent (which one can download from the internet) from the other parent. All this to prevent child abduction by a stranger or even a parent or relative.

I remember back when you could go to Canada and return with just an ordinary driver's license that didn't even have a photo. I just can't imagine that I fit the profile of a terrorist! But, after hearing on the news about Jihad Jane, I guess they just don't trust their own profiles.

Mark and I are hoping to make it to the Vancouver Temple open house in April. We also plan to go to Niagara Falls (Canadian side) this July when we go to visit Jason's family. Maybe someday, it would be fun to go to Mexico, but after listening to the news about some Americans being targeted and shot in Mexico near the American/Mexican border, maybe we will wait until things have calmed down.

When I am just at home I don't dwell on national security and safety issues, but when I get ready to travel I am reminded that things just aren't like they used to be.