good start

That was the quickest trip I’ve ever made to the U.S. Embassy in Cairo– in and out in 20 minutes, and hardly anyone there. Usually I steel myself for bone-grinding hours of waiting, without entertainment.

The scary thing about renewing driver’s licenses, passports, and the like is that the expiration date always looks frighteningly futuristic. This new passport will take me into my 50’s, which is pretty alarming. There won’t be too many more after that one.

I still remember getting my 6-year driver’s license just after graduating from high school. The expiration date said “1992,” and I laughed at that along with my entire family, because 1992 sounded like science fiction at that point. But now it’s just a distant memory.