1) Signed up for Medicare Part B. Because I was still working when I turned 65, I could delay Part B signup without penalty until up to 8 months after retirement. This required an application form and an employer-completed form saying when I retired and confirming whether I had retained other medical insurance upon retirement. I had also (after retirement) received a letter from Medicare saying I could just fill out an application & submit before March 31 to sign up. This seemed simpler than the two-form method, but my first visit to the Social Security office confirmed that the two-document method got me coverage without penalty; but the one-document method meant paying a penalty. So, I was able to kill two birds with one stone and get the employer-completed form done with the visit to AEDC for a retired civilian ID (#2 below) . After getting both documents completed, I set out to return them to the Social Security Office, only to find that I could NOT FIND the two documents anywhere I thought they should be. Turned the house and car upside down & finally admitted defeat & sent up a pitiful little prayer request. Then I remembered I had been rifling through a box of moving papers the night before. Sure enough, the Medicare documents were buried in the moving paper box! Thank you, Lord!
2) Got a “Retired Civilian” ID card from AEDC. After striking out twice, I successfully obtained this sucker! First try, I turned in my AEDC badge and DoD CAC & got scolded for not having turned these in immediately upon retirement, despite the fact that I was 2,000 miles away from the AEDC Pass & ID office. (Okay, I could have mailed them -- long, even more boring story as to why I didn't do that.) Bottom line, my CAC had expired and could not be used as one of the two required IDs to support getting the retired ID. Strike one! Second time, I came early for a retirement reception & stopped in to get the ID. After about 15 minutes I found that additional wait time was about 45 minutes. Oops! Didn’t get there early enough to wait an hour! Strike two! After also striking out on locating my birth certificate, I realized I could use my passport and tracked that document down without too much trouble, since I had had sense enough to bring that item from California in my luggage. So, third time was charm!
3) Got my Tennessee driver’s license reinstated. Initial review of requirements for this told me I needed my still-buried-in-moving-boxes (I hope) birth certificate to get this done. Upon closer review, I confirmed my passport would work for this & got this task knocked out!. Also had to have two proofs of residence - used a utility bill for one and car registration for the other.
4) Filed my Federal & State tax returns. Hunted down all the backup for this. Some was in the “moving-papers” box & others had to be downloaded from online.
5) Located my car registration documents. After pulling these documents from my car glove compartment for use in getting a driver’s license, I distinctly remembered returning them to their proper home. However, when I went to find my last California registration for use in #6 below, I found NONE of the registration documents in the glove box! Although I remembered putting them up, I searched the glove box, house and my purse high and low —went through the paper recycling, as well as the garbage, to no avail. I wondered whether the documents could have somehow slipped behind the glove compartment & stuck my fingers in behind as far as I could, but felt nothing. After determining to go get a duplicate from the county clerk, I googled how to remove my glove box & after a few minutes, had pulled the contraption out & sure enough, there lay my Tennessee registration papers nestled up to some colorful wiring. The California ones are not to be found, apparently — perhaps they weren’t returned to me when I handed them over to get my car registered in Tennessee or perhaps the mouse whose droppings I noticed in my glove box carried this paper off to make a mouse nest!
6) Notified California DMV I had moved states. This could have been done online, had I been able to find my latest California car registration, but totally beat from stuff/paper hunting, I gave up on that one. Located the box my printer was in, unpacked & set it up, then printed out a CA DMV form 14 & mailed that to one DMV address. Mailed the CA registration form with note that I had moved to another DMV address and mailed the recently-received notice of “shutting your registration down due to not receiving insurance verification” to a third address!
Though I continue to wonder whether I want to live long term where I am now, part of me NEVER wants to move again! Unless circumstances or outlook change significantly, I’m 99.9% sure I will NEVER retire again!
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