Tuesday, May 05, 2009

One of my more brilliant moments...

Ever done anything really dumb? I have one or two things on my list of Really Dumb Things Done. (or fifty, I don't remember which.) Anyway, one of those Really Dumb Things that definitely made it on my list was last year, and it had to do with our passports. This is a big no-no when you live in another country! We were sitting in line at the border, and I reached into our bag and drew out four passports, instead of six. We were able to cross the border into the states, because we had our ID cards and birth certificates with us, thanks to my more organized husband, but when we got back home, you can be sure we searched high and low for Ryan's and my passports! We looked everywhere for those things, and after two days, we figured we had better call them in as missing. (It says you need to do that right on the paperwork that comes with the passport.) So my husband went outside, climbed the mountain where our cell phone could pick up a signal, and made his call to cancel our passports. When he came back inside, I met him at the door with two dusty passports I had found seconds earlier. He looked at them, looked at the heavens and went back out.

Did you know that once you cancel a passport, you can't uncancel it? Heh. Bummer.

So for the rest of the time we were in Tijuana, every time the family crossed the border we had to explain to the border guard why our children had passports, and we did not have them.

I believe I have the most patient husband on the planet.

Anyway, I can tell the story now, without total mortification because we have our new passports now, and I don't feel like a total dweeb.

Hey! We're heading to Canada in a couple weeks! I can't wait!

4 comments:

Susan said...

I was holding my breath! LOL The Chovans (evangelist and family who were here this week) only had one passport among the 3 of them, but they were allowed in the country on driver's licenses and birth cert. That will change going into the US on June 1, though. So you could still get in. Anyway, see you in a couple weeks.!

Sarah Joy said...

I've been looking forward to this for a long time!

redneck preacher said...

Maybe a tattoo of a passport on a readable body part?

I've never lost MY passport. Never had one.

HTOITA

Emily Campbell said...

That is my nightmare dream...we just got our passports and I keep dreaming that we leave them or forget them. Glad you could get back and forth without them :)