Earning our margaritas

What's a vacation without a little stress before you leave?
Months ago, in anticipation of our trip to Mexico, I applied for and received Will's passport. At the same time, Ryan and I checked our passports and decided we were good to go -- both expired after April 2014.

First things first. Let's get the important things out of the way far in advance. Right?

Wrong.

Tuesday night of this week, Ryan and I sat on the couch to look through the Mexico paperwork we had received from Edward Jones:

Pack half of each person's things in a separate suit case so if one suitcase is lost, everyone has something to wear. Check.

Some of the restaurants at the resort have dress codes. Men should pack slacks and women should pack dresses or dress pants. Check.

You are required to attend three Edward Jones-hosted meetings during the week. Check.

Your passport must not expire within six months of your return date. If you need to renew your passport, do so at least one month in advance of your departure date.

Uhhhh. Rewind.

What? Your passport can't expire within six months of the date you are scheduled to return to the U.S.?

Ryan's expires in May 2014.

It is Tuesday.

We are supposed to leave Saturday.

I sat on the couch stunned, visions of margaritas melting in my mind. Ryan, on the other hand, in true Ryan form, is cool and collected. He picks up his phone and dials the number in the Edward Jones paperwork for a passport emergency.

Yep, I'd call it that.

The rest of the story includes Ryan gathering all of his life's most important paperwork, getting a photo, FedExing it, hundreds of dollars out of our pocket, and us waiting by the phone to get a confirmation email that our government employees had turned it around in one day and had FedExed it back.

In the course of writing this post, I got a text from Ryan that he had his new passport in hand.

Shew, shew, and shew.

Like I said, what's a vacation without a little added stress before you leave?

We will have earned our margarita.

Maybe two.

Adios for the week!

You think they have sticks like this in Mexico, Mom?