Visa, it's everywhere you want to be

We went to San Francisco last week with 90+ pages EACH to apply for our D7 visas. Most of that was bank statements for the last three months, piled in there as well was a 12 month lease, client invoice and letter speaking to wanting us to be in Portugal for work, supporting it, and flight reservations, amongst FBI reports and our own letters of 'why'.

We flew in and stayed downtown, which was so very different from the California we'd left just late last year. Much more empty, honestly smelled a lot better now that some of the construction drudging up the old sea-caked dirt layers deep had stopped or completed. Much easier to meander down the path by the water, much clearer sidewalks. Less crush of people, more air between them.

Smartly, since I'm not a sense of direction type of person, we scouted out where we'd be going the next morning. We wandered around a city block area for bit, found a lovely haberdashery that, thankfullly for me, wasn't open, and we proceeded to locate the building.

We not so smartly checked the Facebook group that has become my own personal therapist group and bible on how it is all going for others, how it went, and what is happening across the U.S. as people submit their own applications. Not so smartly because right after we got money orders for the new April rates for the Consulate's long stay visa fee, someone posted the new rates. So we got to visit two post offices that day, and we have some money orders still sitting in our unpacked bags I we need to put back into our accounts.

We went back to the hotel and added the money orders to our small reams of paper, and then enjoyed a lovely dinner at an Italian place. It had been a while since we'd sat down anywhere that wasn't one of our ordinary places in our own neighborhood, so it was nice to 'get out'. I learned about a maniacal horserace called Palio which is on horseback, the awesome part, but often gets out of control and horses can run awry into the crowd making up the inner circle of the racetrack. In my younger days I'd have said 'that sounds fun, I want to do it', thankfully I'm older and more creaky now, a bit more risk averse.

At least risk averse to life and limb, but there's a lot of risk in applying for a D7 visa. There's a lot of money, time, and hope on the line. A lot of waiting. Risk in cranky restless behavior and more grey hair. Perhaps by the time we get approval, anywhere from 30 days to 3 months, I'll have sprouted a full grey streak that's consistent rather than dispersed.

As we wait, I'm thinking about all the places I want to explore. Places that I know living in the United States I wouldn't be able to pull off financially or time-wise. Americans get two weeks a year typically, which isn't enough vacation to do much anything with. Most of my 20s and 30s was spent using said vacation to visit family, go to weddings, do small, quick trips. The only larger trips I've taken have been in between jobs or ones I had to really fight for through the luck of getting a new job and making that one trip a requirement. But it's not the norm.

I won't be able to hop a plane or train whenever I want, but the idea of being a short flight to Paris, Rome, Morocco, Greece is intoxicating. I can get to these places faster and cheaper than I can get to say, Phoenix from here.

So, we wait. Shayne said yesterday 'day four' and I my brain was like 'oh, not you, too'. We are both counting days and fingers crossed, we'll get our approval. We're keeping busy this week with new client work and finalizing taxes. Each drop off to the Goodwill or giveaway of furniture to someone feels one step closer.

It will all close out sooner than we can fathom, we'll look back on this time in a few years and comment on how quickly it happened. A few months to close out our lives in the United States, say goodbye to friends, make piles of keep/toss, then make smaller piles of the to keep (hopefully).

Right now, the stories of what we'll explore, how we'll manage daily life are keeping me floating. I hung out with old coworkers and friends last night, so good to see familiar faces. I was told what I'm doing is brave, exciting. I never thought of it as brave, actually the opposite.

I fear not seeing these places and exploring as much as I can, my reaction after losing my parents was basically 'well, let's get to doing, because time is short'. This is me kinda coming to terms with my own mortality, how much time flies as you age, and not wanting to waste any more of the precious nectar of it. Losing parents changed my viewpoint on the world and my place in it, it supercharged me to really push the universe.

I won't be able to see the whole world once we get our visas, but it will unlock so much more to see, and it truly will be like the old campaign slogan for the credit card itself, that 'it's everywhere you want to be'. They really nailed it with that tagline. I used to hate those commercials because it was always someone somewhere that wasn't here, somewhere far away that seemed so unattainable.

I dreamed about doing this my whole life, and I'm doing it, or at least trying. I try to ask myself often now if younger me would be elated for the me now. Between this and growing out the Mom-cut-my-hair mullet, she'd be ecstatic.