Forgot to Mention

After the wonderful three weeks of our vacation, we wound up in hell (not pictured). Did I forget to mention that? I've already told a lot of people about this via email, facebook, conversation, etc., so I won't go into incredible detail here. Very briefly:

Oliver forgot his green card at home...

And was unable to board the plane for our flight home.

He guilted me into staying in Lima with him.

We waited two days for the embassy to open...

And were slapped around by bureaucrats once we arrived. Seriously, those people do NOT mess around. With things like compassion, empathy, or friendliness. (Serenity now!)

We ended up calling our landlords and begging them to "break into" our apartment and mail the green card.

They sent it the fastest way possible - 48 hr. delivery via Fed Ex.

I went home to get things ready for our next trip (we were supposed to leave Thursday night)...

Oliver stayed in Lima and made friends with the people at the Fed Ex office. (Can you track it for me? Where is it now? Will it arrive today?)

The card arrived on Wednesday, and Oliver took the night flight home.

He got back to our apartment at 2pm Thursday...

And we caught our bus to Toronto 5 hours later.

Which is something else I haven't gotten around to mentioning yet: our second annual Labor Day Algonquin Provincial Park extravaganza. It was more or less the same group as last year, and it was a little more poignant this time. One couple was two weeks away from leaving Toronto for Frankfurt. Another couple, one that had moved from Toronto to Frankfurt last fall, was back for a brief visit. (Really, what is it with Frankfurt?) The whole weekend had this undercurrent of "enjoy this very second - time is slipping through your fingers" to it. Why does time always do that?

Lucky for us, we were able to enjoy each of those seconds.

Even if Oliver was a little tired and still a bit freaked out from his recent brush with the Department of Homeland Security.