Ohh to be home again...
0 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 12 August 2009 at 8/12/2009 09:35:00 am.
I am home!!
We are all home!!
WOOOO HOOOO!
After an extremely stressful and eventful last 2 days, it feels like I never left. Springtime has sprung here in G-city, and my pups are still alive, and the house is still standing (albeit lacking a playstation, a Cardinals hat, and a Chiefs hat... sniff! Would you believe they left The Mr's Munster Rugby cap behind though!?) and our boy L. was a spotless, wonderful, perfect housesitter.
Right so the reason we're talking stressful and eventful here, is because not only was it the first time that the Mr. and I were apart for a night in many many years (since his operation in the hospital in Ireland) which just sucks in general, I had to worry about him taking The Joo into BW safely & soundly (we still don't have her passport because the red tape is being cut away so slowwwly in true African style) and surviving the 10 hour drive with her and the pup and a car that had its registration expire while we were over the border, etc etc etc. All this while I had to be up in the Delta for work, unable to do a darned thing to help them if anything went wrong, and do nothing but stress & worry... and bunking down with the construction site Boss at his place (just wait til I get to that part) because all the hotels were supposedly booked out for the 1 night I needed to be there!
So after a long hot day on site on Monday, it just started going downhill from there. From little things like the Boss only has a 2-seater truck, so naturally being the gentlewoman that I am, I let Suit & Tie Guy sit up there while I rode in the back and got covered in a fine layer of dust and donkey poo (in the only set of pants that I had for 2 days)... to having my gentlewoman offer to cook dinner for he & his wife actually being taken up, and which I got to shop for before we even reached their place... WHICH was the biggest pig sty I have ever had to bunk down in, in my life (and I've camped in a lot of weird places). This place had no electricity (ok solar panels but therefore no modern conveniences i.e. TV, electric refrigerator, etc), about 10 dogs and 10 cats, armies of ants everywhere, dirty walls, cat-pee scented furniture from the 70s, filthy greasy dishes with more ants (which I tastefully and quietly wiped out with a papertowel before cooking in) - I would go into more detail but it's all more of the same. The shower scared me. The whole place scared me. One of their dogs kept humping me and then bit me when I tried to get him off. I slept IN THE ROOF. no really. With the mice. Woe is me. But I digress...
And of course all the stress & worry was justified regarding the Mr. and the Joo getting back! Because ultimately, as I said, she does not have a passport! But things were taking so long, that the Magistrate over there felt so sorry for us (and for us having to be separated) that they issued a court order stating that the adoption had been finalized and that we were to be allowed to leave the country and return to our place. Well. Our lovely country was not having any of it. The Mr & The Joo got out of Country A just fine, but of course Country B raised a stink. "This is not a passport!" So after pleading and begging and carefully considering the option of crashing the gate (which was standing wide open so at least it wouldn't hurt the car) he went back to the border post of Country A and after passing The Joo around all the officers and letting her charm the pants off of them, they agreed to make up some sort of bogus travel doc on the spot. It was called a temporary travel permit and they put all sorts of official looking stamps, a passport photo, and a few dozen seals and signatures, and sent him off again. Lo and behold it worked on the grumpy sour-pants in Country B, and he was off like a rocket. Shaking and sweating, I got the call that they were through in the afternoon and everyone rejoiced. Whew.
Honestly I know they say kids will do this to you, but I had never worried so much in my entire life, nor felt the elation I felt when I found out everything is ok. I swear I can officially handle ANYTHING now. unnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnbelievable.
Anyway. It feels so good to be back. What does not feel good is looking at the literal explosion we made when we all arrived back at the ranch last night around 8:30pm.
We are all home!!
WOOOO HOOOO!
After an extremely stressful and eventful last 2 days, it feels like I never left. Springtime has sprung here in G-city, and my pups are still alive, and the house is still standing (albeit lacking a playstation, a Cardinals hat, and a Chiefs hat... sniff! Would you believe they left The Mr's Munster Rugby cap behind though!?) and our boy L. was a spotless, wonderful, perfect housesitter.
Right so the reason we're talking stressful and eventful here, is because not only was it the first time that the Mr. and I were apart for a night in many many years (since his operation in the hospital in Ireland) which just sucks in general, I had to worry about him taking The Joo into BW safely & soundly (we still don't have her passport because the red tape is being cut away so slowwwly in true African style) and surviving the 10 hour drive with her and the pup and a car that had its registration expire while we were over the border, etc etc etc. All this while I had to be up in the Delta for work, unable to do a darned thing to help them if anything went wrong, and do nothing but stress & worry... and bunking down with the construction site Boss at his place (just wait til I get to that part) because all the hotels were supposedly booked out for the 1 night I needed to be there!
So after a long hot day on site on Monday, it just started going downhill from there. From little things like the Boss only has a 2-seater truck, so naturally being the gentlewoman that I am, I let Suit & Tie Guy sit up there while I rode in the back and got covered in a fine layer of dust and donkey poo (in the only set of pants that I had for 2 days)... to having my gentlewoman offer to cook dinner for he & his wife actually being taken up, and which I got to shop for before we even reached their place... WHICH was the biggest pig sty I have ever had to bunk down in, in my life (and I've camped in a lot of weird places). This place had no electricity (ok solar panels but therefore no modern conveniences i.e. TV, electric refrigerator, etc), about 10 dogs and 10 cats, armies of ants everywhere, dirty walls, cat-pee scented furniture from the 70s, filthy greasy dishes with more ants (which I tastefully and quietly wiped out with a papertowel before cooking in) - I would go into more detail but it's all more of the same. The shower scared me. The whole place scared me. One of their dogs kept humping me and then bit me when I tried to get him off. I slept IN THE ROOF. no really. With the mice. Woe is me. But I digress...
And of course all the stress & worry was justified regarding the Mr. and the Joo getting back! Because ultimately, as I said, she does not have a passport! But things were taking so long, that the Magistrate over there felt so sorry for us (and for us having to be separated) that they issued a court order stating that the adoption had been finalized and that we were to be allowed to leave the country and return to our place. Well. Our lovely country was not having any of it. The Mr & The Joo got out of Country A just fine, but of course Country B raised a stink. "This is not a passport!" So after pleading and begging and carefully considering the option of crashing the gate (which was standing wide open so at least it wouldn't hurt the car) he went back to the border post of Country A and after passing The Joo around all the officers and letting her charm the pants off of them, they agreed to make up some sort of bogus travel doc on the spot. It was called a temporary travel permit and they put all sorts of official looking stamps, a passport photo, and a few dozen seals and signatures, and sent him off again. Lo and behold it worked on the grumpy sour-pants in Country B, and he was off like a rocket. Shaking and sweating, I got the call that they were through in the afternoon and everyone rejoiced. Whew.
Honestly I know they say kids will do this to you, but I had never worried so much in my entire life, nor felt the elation I felt when I found out everything is ok. I swear I can officially handle ANYTHING now. unnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnbelievable.
Anyway. It feels so good to be back. What does not feel good is looking at the literal explosion we made when we all arrived back at the ranch last night around 8:30pm.
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