Fingerprints

I had to have my fingerprints taken yesterday. No... I wasn't in the pokey; hadn't stolen anything; no mug shot. I had to have my fingerprints taken for my State of Oregon Insurance license and for my securities licensing with the Securities and Exchange Commission for my new job as an associate with WFG.

Why am I still thinking about this, more than 24 hours and two toddler-filled evenings later? I think the experience took me back nearly twenty years ago to the first time I was ever fingerprinted, when the Warren Family completed our paperwork to emigrate to this country... December 20, 1986. In short, it was a terrifying experience for my innocent and ignorant 11-year-old self. I had never been so surrounded by all sorts of different people speaking all sorts of different languages. The physical examination (performed on every member of the family) was particularily horrifying. I also distinctly remember our parents' requests to keep silent in the interview. We're law-abiding citizens and I'm sure we didn't do anything out of sorts in the eighteen months that had lapsed between the time we applied for immigration and the time we were actually granted our application. But my 8-year old brother and I were, as I recall, threatened within an inch of our lives to keep our lips sealed. For several hours. Do you have any idea how hard that is for a horrified 11-year old? It was almost like we were in jail-- kept in a waiting room for 8 hours until it was our turn, examined like prisoners for (I presume) disease and ill-health, quieted and intimidated in the cubicle-style office with bad lighting. And the fingerprints... one of which I still carry today on my Greencard.

Obviously, the experience is still fresh in my memory. Many of the details have been repalced by Stuff I've Learned Since, but the nuances remain. I don't particularily want Cameron to go through this, but I know he must when I apply for his Canadian Citizenship in the coming months. I vow to do it when he is at an age where he can't remember, can't relive the experience.

Like a House of Cards

I didn't realize it until Jenny Meyer pointed it out to me a couple of weeks ago: I'm an all-or-nothing kind of girl. I like a frenzied pace. I like my life to be busy, energized, full of comings and goings to keep me up from 6:30 am to midnight only to get up the next day and do it all over again. I have also learned that, once one card goes, the whole house can come down, which is what happened in late September and early October. And, admittedly, which is why I haven't been keeping up on the blog. But I digress.

It started in September, with Cameron's change from daycare to preschool/daycare. Shortly after that, we started potty training (the discussion of which is even starting to bore me, so I'll shut up already). Then I started researching opportunities with WFG. Then I quit my job. Then I decided that we should take advantage of the real estate market and decided to put our Bend home up for sale. It sold in 64 hours. Then I realized I needed to get into a rental- and quick- because we now close on November 22 and our new house won't be finished until LATE spring/early summer. Then our permits came back from the city of Redmond and we poured concrete and had the underfloor framing done late last week/early this week on our new house.

So that's it-- new school, new job and new house all in, oh, eight weeks. I figure I'll have time to sit and reflect on all of this in December, just in time for the holidays and THAT crazy schedule. But we're moving forward, changing, evolving as a little family and I think that's good. Our sense of stability comes in knowing that we are making progress and making good choices for our family and for our future and so, however scary and downright crazy things seem right now, the end result will be worth it.

More to follow! I really will get back on track with my blogs.