To-Do

December 12^th – 17^th. Those were the dates that Leo & I were allowed to stop all thoughts of immigration and paperwork and filing fees and Uncle Sam in general. The 12^th was our wedding- and it was absolutely wonderful. And while the original plan involved us mailing off the next round of paperwork as we left toward New Orleans the next morning, we realized very quickly that it wasn’t going to work that way. So we hit the open road, enjoyed a fabulous New Orleans honeymoon, and got back to work on the documents as soon as we got back.

Now, unless you’ve ever been through an application for an American visa and then adjusting status and getting a Green Card afterward, there’s really no way you can understand the effort and frustration involved. There are basically 3 different government departments in the mix: Immigration (USCIS), The State Department & Homeland Security. You send all the paperwork into USCIS, get the actual visa from the State Department & then Homeland Security deals with entry into the US and getting your first official Green Card. And you might think that all of these agencies communicate with each other and share the same info, but that would be so, so wrong. Papers routinely get lost, delays pop up, and sometimes it helps to just sit down and cry.

But as of 12:30 today, Leo’s newest batch of paperwork has been SENT! Now we get to wait… And as terrible as that is, a friend made a very good point: This time we get to wait TOGETHER. And that, on top of having a major item checked off the to-do list, makes me smile.

Another big item we checked off the list was the mailing of our wedding announcements! Their arrival at the apartment yesterday was a tad dramatic when the UPS (which Leo calls “Oops”) guy decided to forego the knocking on our door and just drop it off at the office. We were at home with the sole mission of meeting him, and he just ignored us completely and stuck that annoying little yellow & brown note to the door instead. Needless to say, I called the 800 number immediately and gave them a piece of my mind. I’m sure I’m now on a list- but it made me feel better. And since we did eventually get our announcements, I let it go…

So last night, we sat at the kitchen table and got a little assembly line going. I was in charge of writing addresses and putting stamps on, and Leo was the master of stuffing & sealing envelopes. When we first started, I offered him a wet sponge so he wouldn’t be forced to lick them all, but he decided against it. But after about 20 envelopes, he informed me that he could “no longer feel his tongue.” He gave in to the sponge. And that made me think of a certain Seinfeld episode when George’s fiancée DIED after licking about 250 poisoned envelopes. I told Leo about it- so now he’s convinced that he’ll surely die after his mean, mean wife made him lick all that paper. But don’t worry—I checked his pulse and I’m sure he’ll survive. We all have to make sacrifices!