Another Crisis...

So last night as I lay in bed, unable to sleep and waiting for my adrenaline rush to dissipate, I had a horrible thought: What if Lori (our real estate agent) got Elias's birth certificate instead of Steve's?

I wasn't on the phone with Lori when she found the certificates, but I heard Steve's end, and it almost seemed like she found his too quickly. See, newer certificates are big and colorful and look nice and official. Older ones are white and boring, and usually folded up. What if she saw an official-looking colorful thing that said "Certificate of Live Birth" (or whatever) on it, grabbed it, and assumed all was well?

I tried convincing myself that I was worrying over nothing, but it kept nagging at me.

As soon as I woke up (after finally falling asleep), I asked Steve about it. We were both pretty sure that the kids' birth certificates were in my lock-box, not his, but I still couldn't get the possibility out of my mind. We decided to call Lori, but as it was only 4 a.m. in California, we had to wait. And wait. And wait.

Finally at 8 Pacific we gave her a call and left a message. When she called back, I hoped she'd laugh off our concerns. Instead she confirmed that she had, indeed, grabbed Elias's birth certificate.

She could go back to our house, of course, but that still left the question of whether Steve's certificate was official or not.

In the meantime, we had taken the Canyonero to have our hitch installed (so we can pull the fifth wheel), and we quickly surmised that it would be better to rent a car than to sit in a waiting room with the kids for five hours. That was a fiasco in itself, but we did eventually wind up at a mall--and a relatively nice one at that.

Just after we finished lunch, Lori called to let us know she had Steve's birth certificate. There was much rejoicing.

Then I asked Steve if it was certified. He got a deer-in-the-headlights look and called Lori back.

Indeed, it is a certified copy.

She got everything to FedEx, and it should arrive by 8 a.m. tomorrow. I won't breathe easily until it is in our hands, but hopefully we're a step closer. Actually, I won't breathe easy until our new licenses and registrations are in our hands. I'm not sure what else can go wrong, but hopefully we've used up our quota.