Wednesday, September 21, 2005

slooooow time

One more state police clearance arrived over the past weekend; one more to go.

I talked to the Costa Rican Consulate last week and she seemed to be working hard to do this for me. She asked me to call this week and I will try tomorrow.

It's been four and a half weeks since we sent all the requests; we expect it will take another seven weeks or so to hear from the FBI.

In the meantime, I've spent many hours organizing my rather byzantine work history into a chart. I feel like if we're going to be rejected it will be because I don't have a career path like what we see on TV. What I'm hoping is that they will really look at us together as a couple. Alan has the solid work history, where job duration is measured in years, not months. I have the formal education. Together, we make a very solid candidate. :-)

We collected some letters from former employers, but some folks that promised us have not come through. We must now send gentle reminders and cajole folks to do something they are under no obligation to do (other than that they have already promised).

This is not an easy process. We can't wait until we send our complete application to the CIC and then receive our letter telling us we have a file number and a place in the queue to be reviewed. Then we can just put it out of our minds (lest we go crazy), having nothing more to do until we hear back from them.

One interesting question that is coming up: The Supreme Court of the State of Washington (where we live) will be announcing a decision about same-sex marriage within the next couple of months. Should they rule in our favor, how does this affect our application and status? If we obtain a marriage license and the state finally recognizes our ten-year-old marriage, will it make us stronger or weaker candidates -- or no difference? Will it complicate things?

I've been telling Alan the past couple of weekends that we need to sit down and systematically go over all pages and parts of the application. I've never read it completely from start to finish. We need to be sure that we're on top of things. One thing I want to specifically look for is if we need "proof" of our relationship and if so, what kind of proof. I think I can pull out apartment leases from the past several years and some bank statements. I have photos from our ceremony. Anyway ... I need to look into that.

This weekend we will be embarking on our big tenth anniversary special vacation trip: five nights in D.C. (ironic, yes?) and three nights in Vegas (jacuzzi suite at the Luxor -- whoo hoo). It should be a lot of fun.

When we get back, I hope we have renewed energy to push through the rest of getting the application together.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

over the weekend

We finally heard from Alan's parents! They were in Mississippi and were safe with no major damage to the house and no flooding. But also no electricity or water. It took them 2 - 3 days to clear out the roads of trees so they could get out. (The house is in a very rural area.) They're staying in Baton Rouge with friends for now.

We received more school transcripts, which should be all of them now. Also one more state's police clearance. So, two more states and the FBI to go.

The whole New Orleans situation has sapped my energy for a bit, so I haven't been thinking too much about our possible Big Move lately. But we're going to take some time this coming weekend to sit down and go through the application line by line to see what we still need to work on.

My mom and a friend (from New Orleans who is relocating to Chicago for now) both asked about "the wedding" if/when Alan and I land in Canada. My righteous ire gets raised, even though I know they mean well. We ARE married; it's the state that doesn't recognize it.

Tonight while watching the end of season two of "Six Feet Under" on DVD (we're a bit behind -- do NOT tell us what happens!), I shared an idea with Alan that he said that he had, too. We won't have a wedding, but a renewal of vows. People are off the hook for "required attendance," but it does give us the opportunity to celebrate with friends. If all this does work out, it will be a change of status; in fact, one of the primary motives for making the Big Move to begin with.

Alan insists we choose one of our existing anniversaries (we have two that we observe) to have this shindig, as he doesn't want to have to remember a third!

In any case, we have miles to go before that and a lot of it is out of our hands ... one step at a time ...

Friday, September 02, 2005

received in the mail yesterday

another state's police clearance letter

btw, we still haven't heard from Alan's parents; will be greatly relieved when we do, although we do think they're OK.