What happened to my water?

Hard to believe it's been seven weeks now since my mom died. I only mention it because last night I had a dream that

my mom was alive, that we buried somebody else. I was afraid she was a ghost at first, but her teeth were white and straight just like mine, just like they'd always been, and I knew it was her. I woke up thinking "Oh my God, mom is alive." but then i realized it was a fantasy. My uncle saw her body. It was her, she is gone. She isn't coming back, and why do I hang onto this nearly invisible thread of a hope that she's just lost somewhere? Mom was never lost.

It's hard to believe it's been seven weeks because a little over seven weeks ago, just a couple days before my mom died, I booked two tickets to Germany. One for my sister, and one for me. She's never been to Germany, and I was so excited. So much drama has happened over this trip. My sister didn't have a passport when I booked the flight, but two months was more than enough time to get her one. But then my mom died. She lost her license. (She loses everything. It is infuriating that she can't keep track of anything). I wanted her to get her application out but she wouldn't go to the DMV. Kept putting it off. So I read the application package, and I learned that if my sister didn't have a photo ID, somebody who has known her for five years or longer could vouch for her identity. Well, duh, I've known this girl since she was born so I figured that had to count for something. We went to City Hall to get her passport, because it was the closest place. I filled out a bunch of forms, gave them my passport to photocopy, she took her pictures. We paid them, in total $167 for the application because we expedited it and $10 for the pictures.

Needless to say, the Department of State did not find my sister's proof of identity compelling. It took them about a

month to send us a little letter, which I originally thought was her passport but wondered why it was such a thick envelope, that said she needed to provide five proofs of her identity, and fill out this Supplemental Information Sheet, which is basically her autobiography in table form. At this point, I was fairly convinced we would not, in fact, be going to Germany for Spring Break, but I was hopeful and I filled out my sister's autobiography thing (which I typed, because they want to know everyone' s life story but only give you a 5cmx2cm box to put it in), she gathered some proofs of her identity: A W-2, a bank statement, her student ID, her social security card, and her driver's license. When she got a day off, which was not soon enough for me, she went down to the Department of State/Passport Agency in Miami which issues next day passports for people leaving in less than 14 days, and tried to give them her stuff. But nobody would touch it, saying she'd never get her stuff in time if she did it this way. They said she had to make an appointment to come back when she was leaving in less than 14 days.

At this point, I was trying to figure out what to do. Go to Germany alone? Cancel both tickets? What a waste. She kept asking me if there was anyway we can push the trip back and I kept telling her, my tickets are non-refundable. Anyway, so today is Monday, March 5th, and we leave Wednesday, March 14th. My sister had an appointme this morning at 8:30. She took all her stuff, but of course, forgot the proof of her departure, so I received numerous phone calls early this morning about faxing and e-mailing etc. Then she waited for several hours, until 12:30 came around when the lady asked her why her ID is less than a year old. Why didn't she go to the DMV before she applied for her passport blah blah blah. Occasionally I am convinced that the Department of State only exists to torture its citizens, but when my sister mentioned my mother's death (which, by the way, is written on the Supplemental Information Sheet), coupled with the fact that we are leaving in nine days, the lady decided just to give my sister a passport and said it should be here by the end of the week.

Alhamdulillah. We're going to Germany!

Oh, and about the title. I was in the middle of showering when my water got shut off. The water department is fixing some low pressure problem in one of the buildings and needed to turn everyone's water off. Very annoying. But it's a good reminder to be thankful for my water.