The passport

The Passport story
When our daughter Mari was born in March she was only 3 weeks premature but because of my blood pressure problems she was very little and had to stay in the hospital for a few more days. She was only 4”11” oz when we brought her home. Weirdly enough Joe was in Australia the day I went into labor and arrived home right after her birth, cutting short his trip and cancelling his “walk about” that he had planned for the weekend. I told him he should have just stayed, after all I had 5 already I could’ve done it on my own.
Later that year in August He got to go to Israel for work and this time I really wanted to go, but being that she was still little, and that he didn’t know where the team might be staying , I chose to stay home. My mother lived in Jerusalem at the time and although I really wanted to see her too, Joe would be in Haifa so I would have to be on my own down there anyway. It didn’t make tons of sense to go together. Well he left on a Friday and when he arrived he called and said you should have come, I’m looking at the sunset on the Mediterranean Sea and it’s beautiful! They were scheduled to be there about 10 days and so I thought well if I could find a cheap ticket I could leave and stay with my mom after they leave. I looked for good fares and finally found one leaving in two days so Sunday night I booked a flight out for me and Mari. I was scheduled to leave on Wednesday.
I called Swiss Air to check to see if Mari needed her passport and they informed me that all she needed was a notarized birth certificate, I was glad to have Monday and Tuesday to arrange for the children and get the proper papers. Chicago O’Hare is 1 ½ hrs from our house and so I parked our van at a friend’s house and they drove me to connect with the Shuttle, bags and all. It works well, they just drop you off at International gate 5, and you get in line. I got there in plenty of time and when I got up to the counter, gave my ticket to the lady (Sharon) she asked for the passports, as I gave her mine I explained what Swiss Air had told me over the phone, She looked puzzled and said just a minute, when she came back, she informed me that I had been given faulty information and that I would not be able to get on the plane without a passport for her. Even if they did let me on the plane, the customs people in Israel would not let me off. This was not good news.
Now what!?! So I reacted like any rational women my age with a baby , I just stood there and cried.
Sharon was very understanding. She gave me her card with her information and the number to the passport agency in Chicago. By this time it was almost 4 and the flight was leaving so she said that she would book me on the same flight out the next day. I went to the phone booth to try and contact the passport agency to see if it was even possible to get a passport in one day. It’s one of those large bureaucracy’s and all you get is an automated line to make an appointment. The first scheduled appt. was at 3:30 the next day. The flight left at 4 and the train from Chicago was almost an hour long. So I took it and hoped they would understand my situation. It was then that I was tempted to just take the bus home and forget it. But the ticket was non-refundable and I was this far already so… I took the airport shuttle to a nearby hotel. Did I mention that it was one on the hottest days on record in Chicago? We stayed in our room, with the air conditioning on. I continued to call the passport agency for any openings and ate some of the yogurt and rice I had packed for my mom. The next day was going to be long I just had a feeling. It turned out that I was more right than I realized
I got up the next morning, checked out and they graciously allowed me to keep my bags behind the counter till I got back. So weighed down with nothing but the baby, stroller, and my huge baby bag, I was on my adventure. On the shuttle back to the airport I asked the passengers the burning question of the hour, was it even possible to get a passport in one day. One of the ladies said she was a stewardess and thought that if I could prove it was an emergency that I might be able to. I would need a ticket with today’s date, and a passport photo of the baby. OH ! Glad she told me. I stopped at the Swiss Air ticketing desk to ask them to update my ticket. At that time of the morning there was nobody in site. Frantically I searched for someone to help me. A kind lady at the next airline told me they wouldn’t be in till noon and that she thought there was an office in Chicago. It was 9:30 am and this was just one more thing I had to add to my list, Swiss air office, passport photo place, and passport agency. I got a map and directions to where I was going and got on the train. It took an hour. All I remember about that trip is that the air con was not working and we were dripping wet with sweat. Mari looked ghostly and I was afraid she would dehydrate so I tried to keep her drinking all day. When we arrived I had to run about 6 blocks to the Swiss Air office and up to the 8th floor. I basically carried the baby in the stroller while running up and down stairs to the underground. I was thankful for the cooler air in the tunnels.
When I finally reached the lady at the desk in the Swiss Air office I was on a mission and pumped with adrenaline. Panting I explained my situation (at about 100 words per minute) after insisting I calm down, she hurried the best she could and printed a ticket with the right date. As I left I got instructions for the nearest place that did passport photos. It turned out to be a walgreens 1 block from the passport office. I needed to cash a travelers check, to get the photo, but at that moment I didn’t care. As it turned out it was a good thing. With the photo in hand I headed up to the passport office, to explain the problem to the lady behind the glass. I told her that yeah, I did have an appointment… but it was at 3:30 pm and that would be too late to catch my flight. She had me fill out paper work and when I handed it in. It was about 11 am. I felt I was doing good, she said they would call me soon. By 11:30 they called me and I was starting to have hope that I’d make it back to the airport by 2:00 pm, time for check in. Plus I would have time to swing over and get my bags at the hotel. I calculated that it would take another 15 minutes or so to run from the train to the terminal, so if I got out of there by 12:30 ish I’d be in good shape. Well when I got up to the counter to pay for the passport she said that it had been approved. (GREAT !) and, that I needed 75.00 in cash (whew! I had it!) and, that the pick up time would be 1:30........... WHAT !!!! Very patiently I explained that 1:30 would be too late for me to make it back to the airport in time, and that I needed to get the passport now. She patronizingly said, if it’s meant to be then it will work out. OH COME ON!!!! So when did passport agents become philosophers. My adrenaline had run smack dab into a brick wall and there was nothing to do but WAIT… for an hour and a half. We went to Mcdonalds, but it seemed that no matter where we went that day the aircon was not working. So after a quick burger we headed back to the agency to wait some more. I got there a little after 1:00 and went to sit in the room where they were going to hand them out. I signed in and figured if I got it at 1:30 I might just be able to make it… if I really hustled. The room slowly started to fill up, and at 1:30 there were probably 40 people in there waiting, and they didn’t start calling out the names till 1:40. name after name, nope they weren’t going by first sign in. and no they weren’t in alphabetical order, a poll of the people around me agreed that it was quicker on the train to get back to the airport than a cab. 1:55 . I was chewing my nails. 2:00 about 20 people left. ARGGGGHHHH !!!! Finally 2:10 they called me. Got it, checked it, poor little baby was asleep when they took her picture, but it was her, bald little head and all. So, I was out of there, I flew down the stairs with Marianna, bag and stroller, and out the door to the nearest underground to catch the train back to the airport. As I was standing on the platform asking people, which train was going to O’hare, someone pointed at the train that had just closed its doors and was moving away. AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!! They said, no worries another one will be along in about 15 minutes. I got on that train at 2:30. There was a slim chance I could still do this. I borrowed one of those rare cell phones (can you believe I didn’t have a cell phone in 1999 ! ) and called the number on Sharon’s card for the Swiss Air desk, they said that if I got there at 3:30 they could maybe still get me on, but my luggage was still at the hotel! I borrowed the phone again and yes they could deliver it, but only if I was in the airport. I called Swiss Air, they could not go outside and get it for me because they were too busy booking passengers right now to look for luggage. The man holding onto the pole in front of me was dripping sweat from his elbow. Yep the aircon was still out on the train. About 10 minutes before we got there I called the hotel again and told them that they could deliver my bags to International gate 5, departure. We got off the train at 3:30 and I ran the 15 minutes to my gate in 10. I was 45 with a 5 month old so I think that was a miracle in itself. Sharon was at the back and saw me coming, running together to the front of the check in line for the flight I told her about my other problem, my bags were not here to check yet, we called the hotel again and they said they were on their way, but they had to go to the arrival level 2 floors down. Sharon said she would watch Mari, I paused and then said, ” OK I trust you” and I ran down to the first floor. I stood outside waiting, not so patiently, for about, 10 minutes, I finally thought, forget it, they can send them later and I ran back up to the top floor, as I came to the top of the escalator, Sharon and I saw the hotel shuttle van pulling up in front of the doors at the same time, so we both ran out to the shuttle to get my bags, they came to the right place after all (Mari was still in her stroller by the other attendant) As we were running to the front again I told Sharon I had one more little problem, could she call my house and tell them to call Joe in Haifa so he would know that I did get on the plane, when I talked to them the night before, I said I would try. So I wanted to be sure someone would come to Tel Aviv to pick me up. She assured me she would call. I scribbled the number while she checked my bags and told the other girl to run me to the front of security. We ran, she hustled me through security and I got on the plane and collapsed just as they were putting on the seat belt/no smoking sign. I strapped her in to the basinet on the wall and started to unwind for the first time in 24 hours. The poor guy next to me had to hear all about my stress and he very calmly said, well you're here now, so its ok, YES! TRUE!, ok, I did it !
When I got off the flight in Tel Aviv. I looked around and there seemed to be no one to pick me up, I was about ready to have a break down , racking my brain trying to figure out a way to get to Haifa, by myself, in a strange country, with a baby. Then it dawned on me that I was still inside security and that on the other side of customs and baggage was where people waited to pick you up. You can’t imagine my relief to see my husband, our good friend Dave and my mom. I felt like a little kid who gets lost at the circus and then finally finds their parents. No more adrenaline only relief and exhaustion. Thank God we had made it. It turned out that Joe was able to stay another week waiting for a part to be shipped, so we went to Jerusalem together to visit my mom anyway. It was awesome, I loved Israel, I wouldn’t recommend it in August however, but it was totally worth it. I felt a little like a football guy, dodging blocks and jumping over hurdles going around the opposition, there might have been a good moral of the story there, but I will leave you to make up one for yourself, this is exhausting enough to just write in down.