My new passport arrived in the mail last week. I was pleased to get it - you never know when a foreign assignment is going to appear - but disappointed that the envelope did not also contain my old passport, which I had specifically asked to be returned to me for its sentimental value.
I called the number on the accompanying information sheet and, after a brief wait, talked to a pleasant woman who told me that expired passports are still returned, but in separate envelopes. She even checked and told me what day mine had been mailed.
Yesterday a U.S. Department of State National Passport Center envelope arrived, with a return address of Sterling, Virginia. This concerned me slightly, as I had sent my old passport, along with the new passport application, to Philadelphia. I once sent clips to the Boston Globe, after hearing that the paper was looking for a new travel editor, and received in return the clips of the travel editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
I opened the envelope and found my old passport inside, now with two holes punched in the cover. I put it in the drawer with earlier passports, grateful to my government for accommodating my desire for documented nostalgia.
