The agony and ecstasy (both finished this week)

Thankfully, the agony part is over. We finally have passports in hand after a lengthy and expensive process. After waiting a month for the US State Department to return our authenticated police reports without response, I resent them to a courier in DC who walked them into the office and returned them to me within two days. Boy, that is the business to be in, with couriers theoretically making over $60 an hour per document to travel over to the office and wait in line in your stead. The next business day after I received the couried copies, the originals came from the State Department but who knew that would happen? Here's the really amazing part of the story though: the police reports along with our medical reports, more money and paperwork was sent to the Kuwait Embassy last Friday and our passports came back to us on Tuesday! With stories of the Embassy taking two to three weeks to process applications, I was expecting to get our visas the day before our flight. So from a paperwork perspective, we are cleared to go and the bane of my summer is now a thing of the past.

Another agony that we are seemingly done with is the pain Russ has dealt with for most of the summer. His situation appears to have healed and we are immensely grateful for that.

Other remarkable things that happened this week - our friend Al found us some super strong boxes to take as excess baggage. I can't underscore how valuable it is to find the right box. We moved in with Fred, Liz, and the kids for our last two weeks, and we are really enjoying their company. I am weary however of living out of a suitcase and look forward to settling in at our new apartment.

The most wonderful event of the week was the spa day that Russ gave me on Tuesday. I drove over to Northampton which is one of my favorite places in Western Massachusetts, and I rarely if ever need an excuse to go. For five hours, someone else took exclusive care of me, my face, feet, hands and hair. Utter bliss. I especially love the plum-colored nail polish. I should schedule it again for when we return in December. I brought over a smoothie concoction that I was quite pleased with - a peach, yogurt, soy milk, basil, and kale. I have been experimenting with different combinations including avocado, berries, and coconut. The basil is a nice touch.

I turn 43 on Sunday and, even given the strain of the past four months, still feel remarkably on the young side for which I am thankful. I think part of this is that I am trying to keep up with Russ' exercise routine. We are both probably in the best shape of recent history.