The last 24 hours have been very stressful here.  It started last night when Jes came home while I was filling out a passport application for KK.  I needed her social security card and all our legal documents so I took it out of the safe and gave Jes his passport for his business trip to London and Grenoble.  I happened to look to see when it expires and it had said April 2014!!!  OH NOOOOO!!!  He leaves on Saturday evening and it was already Thursday night! The trip could not be postponed and it would have been a really embarrassing mess if he had to cancel for this reason.

So, we scrambled for answers on the internet and made some calls but it was not looking good.  The Passport Agency that processes last-minute passports didn’t have an appointment until Monday at 10:00 am!  Jes found a 24-hour service and paid a ridiculous amount of money for it.  The next step was to get his picture taken so we went to Costco.  It was still only 6:30 so we had a chance!  When we arrived, the photo guy said he could take his picture but it wouldn’t be ready until 10 am the next day.  Uh oh…

So I called the nearest CVS to see if they would be able to take and print a passport photo tonight and the guy said, “Yes, we are available.”  Nice.  So we drove down to San Bruno and they had it ready in just minutes.  We even took the opportunity to get KK’s photo taken too.  She stood on a stool and actually looked at the camera.  No smile but I’m perfectly fine with it.

Once we got home, Jes looked up the 24-hour service again and it said that they wouldn’t be able to deliver until Monday morning.  What?!  So, his heart sank and decided to wake up at 5 am to call them.  I think the only person who slept last night was KK.

At 5am, the alarm went off and Jes called.  The guy said they wouldn’t be able to deliver today and said that he would refund his money at 6am.  In the meantime, Jes happened to be on Yelp and read some reviews from people who had gone to the Passport Agency without an appointment.  One of the reviewers said to go early – like 6:45 early!  So at about 5:45 am, I heard Jes take a shower.  I thought, “he must be really stressed out”.  Then he got dressed and left the house!  I texted him from bed “where are you going?”  and he said, “state department”.  I think he meant the Passport Agency.  So there he was at 6-something in the morning all by himself.  He was first in line for about 30 minutes before 3 more people showed up.  Wow, that reviewer wasn’t kidding.

KK and I were up and ready by 8am so we walked down to the office to see how things were going.  By then it was 8:30 and they let Jes in.  He got his paperwork processed and met us at the Specialty’s next door with a receipt that said he could pick up his passport at 3:30.  It was sort of a relief but there was still chance there would be a delay or his application would be rejected.

In addition to dealing with Jes’ passport, we walked down to the Sutter Post Office to process KK’s stuff.  When we arrived the lady asked “do you have an appointment?”  I had called the night before and the automated message said that this location did not require an appointment and didn’t even give me the option.  Luckily, they weren’t very busy and the 9:15 appointment didn’t show.  So, we got everything processed and KK’s passport should arrive in about 2 weeks.  Woot.

Later this afternoon, Jes went back to the Passport Agency and he had his passport in his hot little hands by 3:30 pm and he can go on his trip tomorrow.  Phew.  I hope this never happens to us again.  Luckily mine doesn’t expire until 2021.  Is it possible to set an alarm for something that far out?!  I’ll have to find out.

The End.