curses!!!

Today I have come to realize that I am the unlucky recipient of a 10 year curse.  Not a déjà vu, but a full on curse.  What's the spell?  I mangle Dan's passport in some sort of water related accident and then try to repair it in a hysterical frenzy.  So today, just like 10 years ago (shy a few weeks,) I spent more time than I would like with a hairdryer and an iron.


It all started 10 years ago - we had spent 6 months living in Paris and were packing our bags to return back to the states.  Me being so very me thought "why not run everything through the laundry before we pack it up?" As those closest to me know... I am obsessed with doing laundry.  My heart soars when I see all hampers empty.  Back to the origin of the curse, though:  So, it is late in the evening and we are frantically packing the purchases of life abroad (like all of the winter clothes I forgot to pack and then had to buy - clever, right?)  Pulling that last load of laundry out of the washer to dry - when then I see it - in the machine is Dan's passport, all soggy and shrunken.  Mass chaos, blah blah blah, hairdryer and iron - we got it as good as we could.  And airport security barely let Dan leave France because his passport looked so dodgy.


Flash forward to today.  Giddy me goes to pick up our passports that have been sequestered by the Russian Consulate for an upcoming trip to St. Petersburg.  Happy day!  Filling out our visa request forms was more rigorous (and thorough) than most of my college applications.  Grab the passports - run some errands - get home and unpack bags... find Dan's soggy passport at the bottom of my purse.  The entire lining of my purse was waterlogged to my surprise.  Why you ask?  I can only guess because it rains every (*^%&#%@%^! day here in fall and as a result I have taken on significant amounts of water!!!  


Well, you know the rest of the story... hysteria/ hairdryer / iron.  


Dan's passport looks pretty damn good.  The Russian visa will most definitely have to be replaced before travel (not taking any chances with our red friends).