You may not need a passport or other photo ID to pass TSA security

May 23, 2017

Today I am five weeks out from my knee surgery.  I learned a couple things recently.

Got in from Minneapolis about midnight night before last.  Gunther, of course, was exemplary.  I, on the other hand, was wrung out and exhausted the next day at work.  So much so that two of my fellow workers got tired of looking at me and sent me home to suffer there.  I slept from four to six p.m.

Here’s what I learned.  At MSP, P. inadvertently locked her wallet in her suitcase before we checked her luggage.  Therefore, when we tried to go through security she had no photo ID with her boarding pass.  We freaked out, found a bathroom, relieved ourselves, calmed ourselves.  At that point we didn’t know where her wallet was, so we phoned our kids with whom we had just been.  They searched frantically for the missing wallet.

Then, calmer minds prevailing, we correctly figured that her wallet was in her suitcase.  We asked an airline clerk if we could get the suitcase back.  That’s when we learned that TSA doesn’t necessarily have to see a photo ID for domestic flights.  That’s right!  NO ID REQUIRED!  A TSA supervisor asked P. a few questions and she showed him some prescription bottles with her name, and a copy of the New Yorker with her name and address label.

I hope you never get into a bind like that, but if you do, calm yourself.  Find a bathroom.  Relieve yourself.

The morning after we arrived I went down to Gunther’s kennel at 6 a.m. for morning chores.  He was so tired he didn’t budge, just looked at me.  I thought I saw a tear welling up.  Nor did he wander far when I walked him without a leash.

I learned that the two dead cherry trees next door have been removed, thus benefitting the neighborhood.  Therefore, Montana is considerably tidier, drier and warmer than Minnesota these days.