Visa!

Eric picked Tara up in Manhattan on his way from Woods Hole to Baltimore, arrived early in the morning, and when we woke up, we all drove to DC to visit the Ecuadorian embassy and get our visas. It took only a few hours, and there was little time to detour to K street for Thai food and smoothies and get back on the road in time for violin and ballet lessons and dinner and a movie for Daphne, Tara and myself. Eric napped to prepare for his drive back to Woods Hole. Our lives are complicated by another glitch. Eric's 1998 Subaru Forrester has been failing, and after a short visit this morning to the mechanic, it is undriveable without significant and expensive repairs, which we cannot afford at this time. We have to decide what to do with a terminally ill car. Eric will drive my car to Woods Hole and back, which is not good for my car. I love my Prius for its great gas mileage and I take care of it and keep it clean; with Eric driving, it will be as if a tornado whirled around inside, a dry run for its trip to Florida.

The good news of course is the visa, which means we can go to Ecuador anytime! Eric's worries and caution about Maya and I leaving Saturday for Florida (our original plans) are for naught. Instead we will stay four more days. Of course I have every day packed with activity already . Tara will be with us for the next few days. I know that both Tara and Maya have missed each other and need some time to reconnect. We will not see Tara for a year! That hardly feels real. Both girls will be entirely new people in a year, hardly recognizable. Although Tara seems very much herself after two months in Europe.

With Eric I have the opportunity to be the calm one this time. He is super stressed and irritable and not warm and fuzzy as per usual. He was like this when packing up the house as well. Perhaps he has been hiding away too much in science heaven in Woods Hole this summer, and coming home brings the harsh reality alive; we have packed up our lives and are moving to Ecuador in a few days.