Lesson Learned The Hard Way

"Last day to use my passport do you have my Bahrain ID?" Jihad asks as he quietly comes in the house at Bahrain after coming from Ice Hockey in Saudi.

"What?" Thinking if he just said what I think he said

"My passport is expired." He states again

Feeling my heart slowly come out of my chest "NO WAY get me your passport." What a way to be taken out of bed as I was reading a good book.

He comes back upstairs hands it to me and I look through eyes that don't want it to be but sure enough January 20 2009 expiration date "OH #(*#" I utter and run to the phone to call Mr. Man for this means Hannah's is expired as well.

"Hannah and Jihad's passport is expired" I utter quickly knowing he is about to be set into panic mode.

After convincing him he says "Ok get them back to Saudi now"

"What? They have school." images go through my mind on what a disaster this is going to be

"Get them out now or they won't get in for another year" he says in an obvious state of panic

"Your kidding me they'll miss too much school and really fail" I'm thinking not being able to go back to a small apartment for a year may not be a bad thing add in that I really don't want to wake up Hannah and rush her off in confusion and give the kids up to two weeks off of school.

"No I'm not kidding do it now or they won't be able to get back in" and we hang up

@*(#$&# as I head down stairs to call our GRO (government relations officer) number is busy so I gather passports together and tell the nanny to pack a bag but she just stands and stares at me

"About the bag madam" says the maid "sorry Madam" what is she on about I wonder

"OH YEAH" Jihad says in an excited voice "I forgot my bag in the car with Aziz so I guess I have to borrow Hannah's homework" and I stare at him wondering if he just smiled

I search for the phone to call the driver only to remember "OH #($(" they didn't pay his phone bill yet and his phone go cut off he can only receive calls in Saudi. So I have to wait a good 45 minutes until he crosses over a certain point in Saudi until he can receive my phone call to come back, not only with the bag but to take the twins and the nanny back to Saudi.

I turn to the maid and tell her firmly "You can't forget bags in the car, Aziz's phone doesn't have any money on it and you know that. I have to wait for him to go all the way back to Saudi and than call him to come back" she just says "sorry Madam" and watches me in my panic to figure all of this out.

Not that it really matters about the bag at that point for it was set he wasn't going back to school the next day but I still had to wait for the driver to get back into Saudi to call him and tell him to turn around. And in the future none of them can forget school bags. Jihad stands and kind of looks at me with a noticeable sense of delight that he forgot his bag "And you are responsible for your own things. Now you have this old man driving back and forth because you forgot your bag!" Suddenly his mood changes as he realizes what he is putting the driver through.

I get on the phone with the GRO who tells me "I just got off the phone with Mr. Man he told me, but don't worry. Renew the passport there and I have a friend who will work it out at the border" he has a habit of saying no problem when in reality it turns into a real pain in the butt. Remember the camper?? Yea that was him. I told him to make sure so he made a phone call and told me he would call me back.

I am than on the phone with Mr. Man "He says we can do it here without leaving so they don't miss school. So tomorrow you'll have to go to Saudi and bring your mother here" he told me that morning as I took him to the airport that she is peeved she hasn't seen Umar for almost two weeks. "I don't know where everyone will sleep.." and I hear him utter "no problem" I so hate that phrase and just have the urge to smack anyone that says it "... but I'll have to figure that out latter" I continued.

A call back from the GRO and he has guarantees that it will be "no problem" and not to take the kids out of school. When I told Hannah this morning "But my birthday!" she has plans to have lunch with two friends of hers in Saudi for her b-day. I assured her that they will have the lunch it just might be a week latter.

I had it in my mind that their passports expired in 2010 but no that is two of the other ones date of expiration. And to think we had the entire month of December off to renew the passports and transfer their visas. Lessons learned are generally not easy though.