London or Bust

My sister Roma and her husband Eric flew to London last night to attend the BAFTAS (British Academy of Film & Television Arts) which take place this Sunday at London's Royal Opera House. Eric is nominated in the Special Visual Effects category for his incredible work in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This is his first BAFTA nomination. He is also nominated for an Oscar here in the states. How fantastic is that!

I am so thrilled that Eric's extraordinary talent & hard work should be honored by a nomination for such a prestigious award and I do hope he wins but this post is a shout out to my sister (sorry Eric) for she is the one who encouraged him to not stay in L.A. to watch the proceedings via satellite but to make this once-in-a- lifetime trip. As Roma reminded her husband, the point of the film is that you only have so many days to spend here on this planet and you should try to make the most of each and every one of them!

So here's a little story of what happened on Wednesday. After booking the last 2 seats available on Friday night's flight to London, Roma asked Eric to get their passports out of the safe as they started the packing process. He came downstairs with a sick look on his face as he relayed the news that her passport had expired 2 weeks ago! Roma freaked out (well of course she did! who wouldn't?) and reached for her laptop on which she Googled "24 hour passports." (I would never have even thought of such a thing. I would have just thrown myself across the bed and wailed in despair.)

After several calls she connected with a company in Washington D.C. that said that yes, they could make this happen. So she downloaded their forms, filled them out, headed for the CVS pharmacy to get new passport photos taken (which she says make her look like a late stage crack addict) and headed for the airport with her expired passport, packet of forms, and unflattering photos to place on an 11pm cargo delivery flight.

Early on Thursday morning, she heard from the company that her forms had arrived in D.C. and everything looked good. It would take a few hours to process & they would inform her what flight her passport would arrive on. Roma went about her busy day, making arrangements for where her children would be staying, making sure the pugs were cared for and all those other last minute details that mothers deal with.

It was after midnight (Friday) when she logged onto Facebook to say she had just returned from picking up her new passport from LAX and was indeed going to London!!! WOW! and YIPPEE! Talk about tenacity! (Eric took this picture after they boarded the plane)....

May this experience grace them both with delicious stories and marvelous memories to share with those they love so dearly.