And, if your son is like my daughter, I bet he's saying, "I told you so, Mom!" ;)

Are you sure it isn't considered a renewal? My daughter renewed hers in 04 and she was under 15 when she got her original. I'm pretty sure hers was considered a renewal. She had to send her old passport in with the form, but received both passports back. The old one had holes punched in it.

I guess it doesn't really matter as long as you get it back in time.

kybourbon.. everything I have read and everyone I spoke to said that it was not a renewal. I wonder if it is one of the changes since 9/11..? hmmm This is directly from the US Department of State website ---
<You may renew if: you already have a passport that is not damaged; and Received it within the past 15 years; and Were at least age 16 when it was issued; and Still have the same name as in passport (or you can legally document your name change).>
wednesday - thank you!! He is a gem. maire - He has very graciously not said 'I told you so'.. but I'm pretty sure he's thinking it. hehe

laclaire - thanks, but this gives you the listing of places you can take care of the application.. the normal way. This is directly from the US Department of State website –
<Acceptance facilities include many Federal, state and probate courts, post offices, some public libraries and a number of county and municipal offices. There are also 13 regional passport agencies, and 1 Gateway City Agency, which serve customers who are traveling within 2 weeks (14 days), or who need foreign visas for travel. Appointments are required in such cases….. >
this is what I was referring to in Houston. Thanks for your insight and suggestion though.. its much appreciated.

jillivanilli - your story gives me HOPE!

It will all work out. Thanks again for all your words of wisdom/encouragement!

callalilli, you're right, your son's situation is quite a bit more complicated - what a headache!

I have my fingers crossed for you! Please let us know how everything turns out. Good luck!

Well, you didn't tell us he was in Texas - that changes everything! ;-)

In a similar situation several years ago in Houston I used the services of a passport expediter agaency, which got my renewal within a couple days. Yes, there was a fee, but it was worth it to avoid standing in line all day; post 9/11 it is even more cumbersome. I did a quick google for passport expeditors and found that there is actualy a national association - http://www.napvs.org/passport_visa_info.html and an agency in Euless (http://www.iratex.com) which is a heck of a lot closer to your son than Houston. The fee may not be much more than gas for the drive back and forth.
Does this atone for my prior lapse in judgment?

I got a wretched surprise this morning when I woke up at 5:00 a.m. and began packing in preparation for our departure tomorrow from Spokane to Portland for our flight to Munich the following morning.

NO SIGN OF MY PASSPORT! I knew I had it about 10 days ago, because I used it for ID on a flight from Seattle to my home.

After a fruitless search, by about 10:00 a.m., dedided I had no choice but to book an 11:45 a.m. flight to Seattle to go to the passport office there and see what I could do. I was able to schedule a 1:30 appointment through the mechanized voice mail system, arranged for my sister to immediately take me to the airport for my flight, and was able to get in touch with my son in Seattle to pick me up at Sea-Tack at 12:45 and drive me to the federal building in downtown Seattle for my appointment.

Fortunately, I'd brought my birth certificate with me, but I didn't know I'd need a copy of my travel itinerary (to show proof of the emergency need for expedited service) and I didn't bring passport photos, assuming they could be taken there, as they are at my local passport office. The guard/receptionist sent me off a couple of blocks away to Fed-Ex/Kinko, where I got my passport pics taken and logged on to Travelocity and printed my travel itinerary. Sprinting back to the passport office a couple of blocks away, my son helped me fill out the paperwork, because I'm partially blind, the result of a stroke caused by heart surgery a year ago, which maked all of this much more stressful and challenging.

About an hour from the time we finally had our act together enough to present our paperwork to an agent, we walked out the door with my new passport, in time to comfortably manage my 4:50 flight back home, home within about 5 hours from start to finish.

I was amazed by how helpful everyone had been and by how it had all fallen into place so beautifully. what a relief!

"...MAKED all of this???" I told you I was partially blind, didn't I? I meant to say my partial blindness made all of the process more challenging for me, but it worked out, with the help of family and unusually helpful folks at the FED-EX store and, most of all, at the US Passport Office in Seattle.

Wow Mary Fran,

I admire how you took care of that! In my case, I would probaly would have wasted all day looking for the passport and getting crazy over the fact that I couldn't find it.
Instead, you took action and did something constructive.

Good for you! Have a great trip!

I see another typo there that would lead you believe the post was typed by a half-blind woman: That should be "Sea-Tac," without "that pesky "k."

Things went so fast today, I really hadn't had time to formulate a "moral to the story." I believe the moral is that a passport should be used only when it MUSt be used - for international travel - and the rest of the time it should be stored in a safe, consistent place, where it can be found when needed. I had become pretty casual, sometimes carrying it in my purse for extended periods, other times casually leaving it on my home desk until I felt inspired to tuck it away. Such carelessness can result in an expensive lesson.

Seamus - :) thanks for checking into it .. atonement complete.. :)>-

Well, my son received the old passport in the mail at noon Friday, went to the P.O. across the street from his apartment.. gave them what they asked for.. and was told we should have the new one in the mail by Monday the 15th! I'll let y'all know if it is really and truly true.

Mary_Fran - what a day! I'm glad you were able to get it worked out.

I went through this last year with one of my Girl Scouts on our trip. They got the passport and Mom put it away because she didn't trust the daughter. You got it, mom lost it. We had to do the scramble, but it actually arrived in about 8 days as I recall so hopefully the OP will be just as lucky.

(And I am not sure how the family realized Mom had lost the passport, but I suspect it was the daughter checking up on mom...)

Can I get a WOOO HOOO ?!!!? My son's passport was in this mornings mail! Wonder of Wonders!

Hey callalilli! That is wonderful and it will certainly make tomorrow a more happy Mothers Day for you!! Thanks for posting back with the results. And truly, Happy Mother's Day!! ((f))

WoooHooo! That's great news! Happy Mother's Day.

Isn't that a great omen for the upcomong trip - run out and buy a lottery ticket!

Seamus - I was thinking the same thing!!
Thanks, LoveItaly and Maire... I'm looking forward to my Mother's Day on Tuesday when the boy gets home!

Lucky you, calla.

((I))