I am the Ultimate Winner of Hide and Seek!

The Queen of Hide and Seek!

December the 18, 2007 was the day that I needed to have my fingerprints done for the USCIS. Let me paint the picture for you. The day was clear and sunny but a little cold. I woke up in plenty of time to get ready and take a self portrait before I left for Philadelphia. I live on the Jersey shore and the drive to Philadelphia from where I live is mostly done on rural roads. So I set out with a full tank of gas and a diet Pepsi.

The drive was mostly uneventful thanks to Map Quest. I have driven to Philadelphia a number of times and still manage to get lost in the city every time. I hit a little traffic and I started to worry that I was not going to be able to find parking. See the big joke is that I can not parallel park so I always use a lot.

I was about 30 minutes early for my appointment so I am thinking I have plenty of time to park and run so that I am not late. I turn down the street where the building was and what do my wandering eyes see but a beautiful parking lot across the street. I do a happy dance in my car. The man takes my keys parks the car and I head off to the building. I am thinking as I walk up this is too easy.

I get to the door and give it a yank and nearly throw out my shoulder because it is LOCKED! I start to panic and yes cry. This is probably the most amazing part for me because one of the causalities of being a nurse is that you have to suppress so much of those types of feelings just to make it through the day and work has been really ugly lately. I know I must have been a mess because Gerard who was in New Jersey even sounded worried and he never worries about things like this. He usually worries about things like “Why do my socks not match or is there enough cake for me to have a third slice?”

I ask a man on the street and he confirms that the address is correct but tells me they probably moved to one of the surrounding buildings. I walk completely around the building and find nothing. No forwarding addresses or telephone number. I find a Philadelphia police officer who was extremely nice and told me that if I get an address he will get me the directions (Big thanks to the men in blue you are all heroes). I walk into an adjacent building and the doorman hands me a paper that states the office moved to about 20 minutes away.

Dashing to my car with my cell phone in my hand I call Gerard (this is where the singing stops) thank god he knows how to get me home from everywhere and to anywhere. Gerard is my personal GPS. I go over the directions with him as I am driving and crying. I do finally get to where I need to be and I am 30 minutes late but they take me anyway. So the fingerprinting is done!

Gerard is funny most of the time about situations like these. He said "This was like a big game of hide and seek and you won. Don't they know nothing is going to come between you and your baby? They sure did mess with the wrong woman. You hunted them down like a blood hound. That's my Bozzie!"