i applied for my passport (!) so i can go to canadada (!) today. i went at 8:30 this morning, but the office doesn’t open until 10:00, so i took the paperwork and returned home. tried again at 11:00, and actually got in the door this time, but the lady said the name on my birth certificate doesn’t match the name on my driver’s license – well DUH! – and no, my social security card is not enough for the department of clownland security folks, they’ve got to actually see the paperwork, which is buried in one box, presumably in the back of the POD, and they won’t accept my paperwork without it. so i go back home, unpack the whole POD, digging through every box, because i don’t know which one i put it in, freak out, find it, and go back at 12:30… but the person who accepted the application is not the person who has to see the stuff, and according to the person who accepts the application, i won’t actually get the passport and supporting paperwork back for 5 to 6 weeks, unless i want to pay an extra $60 so they will "expedite" it back to me in 2 weeks (meaning that she put it in an express mail folder instead of in the regular mail). finally i raise my right hand and say "yes" when she asks me if all of the information is correct to the best of my knowledge. now the US department of state has my birth certificate and my certificate of name-change, which means that if, for some "god-knows-what" reason i’ve got to prove my identity to someone, i can’t do it… presumably they’re going to mail it all back to me, but with everything else in an uproar, there’s no telling what is going to happen.
we still don’t know whether we’ve got financing for our new house yet, and probably won’t until after the 10th, which is when we have to move out of our current place. the real estate agent says not to worry, but he doesn’t know who he’s talking to here… i’m an expert at worrying… and it’s worse, because i keep wondering what will happen when we’ve moved out of our current place, and then discover that the financing for the new house didn’t go the way we all want it to go, and we end up without a house. everybody says that won’t happen, but i say "why won’t it happen" and so far nobody has an answer to that question. and it’s even more worse because, since my injury, i’ve been worrying about everything a lot more than i used to.
i know, i know… we’ve arranged, if necessary, to stay with friends for a couple of weeks (the only "family" that we could stay with is my parents, and i’d rather be homeless than stay with them, even if it were only for one night)… and the mortgage is arranged, it’s just where the financing is going to come from. we are going to move into this house, it’s just a question of where the money is going to come from. at this point, we’ve arranged for an FHA loan, and the government is taking it’s own sweet time about telling us the details. but we still don’t know if we’re going to find out all of the details before, or after we have to be out of our current house, and (from what i understand) probably won’t until a day or two before it actually takes place… which may mean that we have to put all of our stuff in storage and stay in our friends’ RV for a week or so.
and i’m going to canadada for the cirque de flambé shows on the 21st and 22nd of may.
I had pretty much the identical experience when I went to get my passport to go to Australia 6 years ago.
It won’t happen because it’s just too late in the game, and too many people (that aren’t you) want it to go through. If all else fails and you don’t get the house, you’ll put your stuff in storage and stay with friends or family till you get another one, and that one will be meet your needs perfectly, above and beyond this one. But… you’ll get this one. Just keep breathing for a few more days, hang in there. In a few dreams’ time, you’ll be right where you ought to be.
Why are you going to Canada?