The end of the quest

I got an email today and I thought it was the end, the end of the quest. It's been three years now -- over three years if you want to be accurate -- and an ending is due. And here it was.

Margine from the embassy had emailed, and she said February 5 was the expiration date. Well, I wasn't a 100% sure that's what she said, since she wrote in spanish. But I generally get the gist of the written word, so I was pretty sure I followed it.

Unfortunately she didn't say much else. And I thought our paperwork expired at the beginning May -- so we still have a little over two months time, if everything (and I mean everything) worked in our favor for once. Oh dear, what's going on?

How did it the expiration date get bumped up to February? Crap. I must have read it wrong. But then so did Mi Familia, because I would swear that they said May too. But February 5? How can that be?

So I pulled up the paperwork, and I read it really carefully. Crap (again). She was right. If you read it really closely -- I mean read what it really says -- it clearly says it expires 18 months from...

So it's over. Not in May, but now. Wow. Three years coming and yet it's still a surprise.