a simple yarn

It’s not often I remember what I was doing at any given moment on any given day in any given year. But milestones would, of course, be different…

On this day six years ago, I was standing before a judge.

Now, before you think I’m a wily or hardened or reformed or (fill in appropriate adjective here) criminal, let me hasten to add adoption judge…which makes a difference I suspect.

There we stood in St Petersburg…Russia, not Florida…listening to translated questions issued forth from a matronly judge with obligatory stern look, and having ‘give-them-enough-information-but-don’t-be-too-wordy’ answers tumbling out with anxious heart, translated in return. Thus, with the bang of a gavel and many stamped documents later, we returned home with Alex in tow.

That’s what happened six years ago today.

And so six hours ago today, to celebrate Alex’s adoption day and to commemorate our past dealings with bureaucratic governments, we found ourselves at the US Embassy in Dublin renewing the children’s soon-to-expire-passports for summer holiday traveling. Have to be honest, I think the passport renewal process was about as lengthy as the adoption process itself…