Friday, January 2, 2009

the trouble with flowers

today was a bad day: I took the day off to get all my documents together and wait in line at the post office to get my passport. once I finally made it up to the window, newly fluffed and glossed for my passport photo, I was told that my birth certificate will not do for the state department.

let me tell you how proud I am of my birth certificate: it's the original; worn, faded, hand-typed and signed and stamped by the registrar of the county of kern in the sixties. I have kept it safe and close by for over 4o years, through college, break-ups, marriages and cross-country moves. I am so freakin' proud of that thing. well, it is useless. I am required to obtain a new copy with the watermark from the place of my birth before I can apply for my passport. here's the thing: I live in virginia and have to get my birth certificate from california. processing time: 14 weeks. then I can apply for my passport. processing time: 10 weeks. that puts me over our departure date of may 1.

it's funny that I can use my current birth certificate to acquire the new birth certificate that is required to process the passport. does that make any sense, national security-wise?

so anyway, nothing to be done about it but go ahead and give it a go and see if the travel gods are smiling on me and some miracle occurs and bureaucracy actually turns something out faster than they say. I know. I'm resigned that there will be no james mcavoy play for me.

I left the post office defluffed and deglossed and quite pissy. I bought a little bouquet of roses to cheer myself up. I thought this the wiser choice than a chick-fil-a strawberry milkshake and was pretty proud of myself for making this healthier choice. the sweet little things worked for about 20 minutes, then I became sore again. I needed more flowers. you can never get enough flowers when you are feeling blue. so I bought this:


still blue. and now poor. but isn't it fabulous?