Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Getting Grandma on the Plane



Little did she know the lie she told at 16 would come back to haunt her 74 years later.

It all started when her grandson , who lives in Texas, decided to get married and have the wedding at Lake Tahoe. The only grand child she has. The son of the only child she has.

In 1918 birth certificates were not of real importance. When you started to school you went by grade not age. Most kids finished by age 12 and were working. Grandma had a good life. She had all the dreams of a young girl in that era so it was only natural that when she met her dream man she wanted to get married. All she had to do was say she was 18 even though she knew she was a couple of years shy.

She really didn't like the way her Mom had spelled her name so she took the horse by the reign and changed the spelling. Nothing drastic. trade a y for an i. Who would care? after all it is her name.


Life moved on. Husband went to war, child was born. Life was that of the American dream. Husband retired they lived some good years and then he passed leaving her with one single daughter and one grandson about 6 yrs old.


She moved from Oklahoma to Texas with the daughter and grandson and they became a family for the next 30 years.


When she moved from one state to the other she could not pass the drivers test to have her license renewed. There went that identification. No drivers license for 25 years.

Now its wedding time and Grandma has no identification. No drivers license and no birth certificate. Must have something to board the plane. One month till wedding time the Grandson drives his 90 year old deaf grandmother to the capitol of the State in which she was born in hopes of getting a birth certificate. No luck. No one by that name or that age. Censers proved to not have any information on this person.

Quote from daughter,
"stuff..please?There is always something to climb over isn't there? well, here it is.Still trying to get granny on the plane. I called the airlines and so did Kevin (different times and people we spoke to) same information.

Get her there at 7:10 am, put her in wheelchair to go through security, because it will take awhile for them to OK her. She has to have her SS card and her visa debit card with picture and any other government documents I can get, they say it will take awhile to do this. But they say it will happen. Same at Reno to come back!!!!!! This worries me!!

Oh yes they said our plane leaves at 9:15 and not 9:30 as it is on our tickets. Today I sent money and a new form for her birth certificate including copy of the 1930 census, and added myself on request as next of kin, to Okla. City. I hope she gets this and it gets here, however her name is spelled Sybil and she spells it Sibyl!!!!This woman has caused some pain this last month. I don't know if this would help, also sent $ and refilled for passport and I don't think it would get back here on time if it is approved!!!!! She is disappointed big time."



Here's the plan, be at the air port early, real early. have her medicare card and bank debit card with a photo on it and put her in a wheel chair. here she is. She is Grandma trying to get to her only Grandson's wedding. Any mercy to be found in the day of national security? We will see.




Maybe we will take this picture as proof of age. To be continued..........


1 comment:

Kristy said...

I wish you good good luck on this trip, sweetie. I think the security policies are so unpredictable. But come on...a 90 year old lady and her caregiver are gonna hijack the plane????