I went to jail today.

This morning I awoke to a frantic phone call from my mother. I knew instantly that something was very wrong. The woman never gets upset about anything. She could hardly get her words out.

"Huge problem...cruise documents...we need a notarized letter to take Joey on the ship..."

Huh?

"Kristen! Do you hear me! We need a notarized letter, an original notarized letter, signed by you to take Joey on the ship!!!"

Okay..Um what should I do?

"Find a notary and call me back!"

Alrighty then, no problem. I stumble out of bed and head to the computer. 6:30 am on a Sunday I'm sure there are tons of notaries available, yeah. There is absolutely nothing open. I begin to curse at Google.

Mom calls back "Any luck?"

"Uh not yet. But I'm still looking."

"Try Kinko's they're open 24/7."

"Right!"

I grab my coat, jump in the car and speed off. Ten minutes later I'm standing at the counter in my pj's. I don't pay any attention to the 10+ people in the store looking at me like I'm a crazy woman as I'm flagging down the worker. I wonder what the heck all these people are doing at Kinko's at 6:45am on a Sunday???

The workerman sensing my urgency rushes over. Damn, their notary guy doesn't work on weekends. He suggests TCF Bank. I get vague directions and rush off.

After two illegal u-turns I find the entrance to the bank. Crud. They don't open until 11. That's 1pm Miami time. Crap. Crap. Crap.

I anxiously call mom back. She tells me to drive down the main thoroughfare looking for anything that might have a notary.

Great.

I don't find anything. I go home. Dh and the kids are dressed and ready for church. We are all anxious wondering what to do. Dh starts calling super markets. I again try google.

My mom calls back and tells us to head to the jail.

Huh?

(My dad retired from the Sheriffs dept. a few years ago. He was a captain there for many, many years.) He called and found a deputy notary willing to help me out. Apparently, inmates need things notarized all the time.

We pack the car and drive to the 40 minutes to the jail. The girls are super excited.

"We're going to jail!" "Can we talk to the bad guys?" "Will they shoot us?" "Isn't this great?!"

The deputy was extremely nice. We filled out a power of attorney and a notarized permission to supervise and medically seek treatment form and faxed them to the hotel three times. Stupid machine.

Step one completed. They head to the port. Mom promises to call as soon as they make it on (or not). We head tos church. Everyone is still on edge knowing that the cruise people still might insist on an original. I feel terrible knowing there is absolutely nothing else I can do.

So we wait. And wait. And wait. No call. Hours pass by, still no call.

Finally at 2pm they call from the ship. They made it on. The old man who checked them in never mentioned anything about notarized documents. He simple looked at the passports and chatted about the ship.

Go figure.

Joey is beyond excited. Mom says he is bouncing off the walls running from his room across the hall to theirs. He and my sister have a promenade room. My parent's have a balcony. He can't decide which he prefers. :) It was such a huge relief to hear their stress free voices.

They called again at dinner to say goodbye. Joey already rode on the surf machine four times. :) He's going to have an awesome week.

It's so strange knowing my ten year old little boy in out in the middle of the ocean right now. But, boy, I am so glad he made it on. :-)