When life throws tomatoes at you, make sauce

The tomatoes were not thrown, but kindly given to us by neighbors who garden. And I am making sauce. I'm even reading about sauce--Giulia Melucci's entertaining memoir of long-term singlehood, I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti.

But the freaking tomatoes just keep coming. If anyone says anything to me like "look at the larger picture" or "don't sweat the small stuff," I might have to throw something (though, as my brother will tell you, you're in no danger unless you're standing very, very close to me).

We called our respective doctors this a.m. to get their notes on the way. My dr had sent in my info, but I had to ask for Josie's in addition ("it's Monday, I doubt she'll get to it today," said a receptionist who sounded world-weary at 9:15); John's doctor hadn't gotten to his yet.

Then I called the check on our clearances: SRS child neglect & abuse registry; KBI/FBI fingerprints. The SRS person told me our clearances were sent out Friday; our SW later confirmed that she'd received them. The KBI person told me my prints had gone on to the FBI for further processing because they're bad.

Yes, somehow I knew this. I have flat whorls that don't show up nicely. What I don't understand is why I have been printed multiple times as an adoptive parent and as a teacher, come up with "bad" prints, and am thrown back for re-runs which yield about the same results. Same hands, same flat whorls. What do they expect me to do--sprout new prints? After years of this, I am truly fed up with how idiotic the whole fingerprinting process is. These are my fingers. This is all they yield.

When I said we don't have 2 - 4 weeks to wait for further processing, I asked the KBI person if I could speak w/her supervisor; she gave me the supervisor's number in case we were disconnected. Worth noting: I was not sarcastic or unpleasant and the KBI people were genuinely nice and efficient. The supervisor said she would ask about having my prints rushed, and our social worker's agency would know more later this week.

This shocked me. I couldn't believe I'd actually moved the process forward a little, esp at that level; I expected to hang up and burst into tears. Of course, it remains to be seen if anything gets sped up, but I'm hopeful right now. Another month would be a nightmare as far as getting everything done in time. Two weeks would be agony. Really, every day that the paperwork isn't sent in for processing is hard to take. We are so close but we still have to send this stuff in and see if it passes muster. Our home study has been returned before bc it was missing information or information wasn't worded properly. They don't just get it and stamp it nor are we the only family waiting in line.

On the upside, I've changed the referral info. Today, people w/LID dates up to 5/15 are getting calls. This is part of the reason I'm getting frantic. We're next!