We drove to Lubbock today to do our Homeland Security fingerprinting. We were surprised to find that the office was located in a strip mall. We were greeted at the door by an officer who asked to see our letter and requested that I leave my purse in the car and only bring in our paperwork and ID's. Needless to say, this was a very intimidating situation.

There were only about 3 other people waiting but we were each given a "Now Serving" number and seated in a stark waiting area. I was called back for the fingerprinting by a white button-down, short-sleeved, no-nonsense Fed (picture the typical FBI agent on TV). He cleaned my hands with some type of alcohol-based hand sanitizer. He then moistened my hands by spraying water on them. He then rolled one finger tip at a time across a scanner pad and my digital fingerprint appeared on the monitor above. He inspected each print to make sure it was clear and then moved on to the next finger. My hands kept drying out so he had to spray water on them frequently. Rob always has dry hands, there was a lot of re-scanning before getting a full set of acceptable prints. No doubt, this had something to do with both of us being so nervous.

Once completed, we were politely, but quickly, whisked right on out the door. On our way out, we asked about the timeframe for getting the results and these gentleman had little information to provide us.

Labels: dossier