Succo d'arrancia

I'm beginning to gather the things I'll need for my upcoming trip to Rome. Jake and I will be spending a little less than a week touring the city, along with my parents and a small group of adults. This trip was Jake's idea actually. He studied Ancient Rome, Greece, and China last year and wants to visit all three. Did I mention he's only nine??

I found key diabetes phrases in Italian, so I am prepared to ask for help, a doctor, and/or orange juice if needed. My favorite is "Devo mangiare qualcosa adesso a causa del mio diabete" which means "I must eat something now because of my diabetes". Here's hoping I don't have to use it!

I also found a wonderful list of Italian phrases that relate to food allergies. This will come in handy because Ho un'allergia impersensibilta a crostacei (I am allergic to shell fish). I've noted gambero, aragosta e granchio (shrimp, lobster, and crab) so that I can avoid them when ordering food.

I've requested letters detailing my need to carry syringes, lancets, pump supplies, insulin, dexcom insertion devices, and an epi-pen.

I even have a notorized letter from my husband affirming that I can travel outside of the country with our child.

The only glaring unchecked box on my to-do list is my passport. Yes folks, the US Government is messing with my head. We applied in January (at the beginning of the great rush for passports) and after a few weeks, I noticed that I could see the boys' passports in the online tracking system, but mine was not there. I called and navigated the ridiculous phone prompt system and learned that I was in the system, but with a mispelled last name (Gregono instead of Gregorio). "Karen" assured me the error was caught in time. "Karen" was wrong.

I received the erroneous passport in early March and spent... oh... several hours trying to figure out the conflicting correction advice online and on the printed form. Just to make things interesting, the passport people revamped their website in early March. So the path that I followed to get information one day was completely different the next. I kid you not.

Mailed off the passport, correction form, proof of name, and letter with travel dates on 3/17.

No sign of it yet.

And now... now the passport people won't even speak with you on the phone unless you have tickets for travel within 14 days.

So Monday morning, 7 AM, I'll start calling in hopes of figuring out where my passport is (though I know it was signed for) and what to do next.

The silver lining in all this is that my second set of passport photos (yes, I had to have them retaken. And pay for it) was way better than the first.

Once that is all sorted out, I think I'll be able to start getting excited! And I'll start working on carb counts for gelato...