2.8: Last things last

Crossing everything off my list… for now...

Olá Substack Readers,

Well, the Portuguese consulate actually came through. Two weeks before my trip… almost 18 months after starting the process… I received instructions for mailing in my passport to them so they could affix my D7 visa. I didn’t know whether to be excited or nervous. It was awfully close to my departure date, considering how slowly they operated. But it was the only way to get the damn visa.

A week after I sent it, I got it back with an official visa laminated into it. In the middle of the visa was an ink smudge that looked like someone had handled it with dirty fingers. That seemed odd.

When I spoke with my lawyer on Zoom, she asked about my SEF appointment. “SEF appointment?” I responded. She said the date and location would be on the visa. I took a look and told her the information absolutely wasn’t there. She asked me to hold the visa up to the camera so she could take a look.

Yup… there it was! It was the ink smudge in the middle. I used a magnifying glass, and damn… I could see writing. But it was unintelligible. She asked me to take a picture of it and send her the photo. Long story short… it was there… sort of. There was a very long code number, which could be used on SEF’s website to retrieve my appointment information. So, I had my D7 visa and my SEF appointment. I was making progress.

After a year and a half in various stages of pandemic lockdowns, life was slowly returning to normal in New York. Places and events that would normally have been packed with people weren’t crowded at all. Still, it was progress. I knew from conversations with FP that 2020 had been no picnic in Lisbon, either. I wondered what I’d find when I got there.

In the final months, I had cracked the whip on my new cousins who still owed me photos or information for our joint family history project. I wouldn’t have minded at all if some had said they weren’t interested, but only one declined. Everyone else wanted to be included and planned to get me photos and information… any day now. So, with my trip coming up… it was now or never. After nearly two years, I wrapped up the last interviews, received the last photos, and finished everything.

I fine-tuned the text and layout, got a great price on printing, took orders for books, sent an excel file to the printer with quantities and shipping addresses… and then I sat back and wait for books to arrive. My new cousins had been proofreading PDFs for over a year, but they were blown away when they received actual books. I loved doing the project, but the response was icing on the cake.

I’m still amazed at the amount of information cousins were able to find and the fact that they were so generous about sharing it. It truly was a group effort.

Before I left for Lisbon, several new cousins had asked me to keep them in the loop. Others seemed interested but hadn’t specifically asked for updates. I’m always reluctant to clog up people’s email inboxes. So, I sent an email to my 90 new cousins to see who wanted correspondence from Portugal. I suppose my email pretty much describes what I write about…

Hi Cousins,

Several of you have asked me to keep you in the loop as I start relocating… or not… to Lisbon. I’m happy to do that, but I don’t want to clog up anyone’s e-mailbox with TMI about Pepper and me. If you want me to add you to the email list, just let me know.

But before you opt in, I want to make sure you know that my dispatches from Portugal will contain absolutely nothing of any importance. They will be 100% fluff with photos of stuff I find amusing. If that’s not your thing, I totally get it. I’m very good at turning nothing of any importance into a wasted 5 or 10 minutes. So, opt in at your peril. Opt out any time.

Much to my surprise, about half opted in. Go figure! My ulterior motive is that the emails enable me to stay in touch with friends and family. Every time I send an email, different people respond to different topics. It’s my own low-tech social media.

On my next to last day, I needed to relocate my orchids. Damn! They were all in bloom. Orchids have long stretches without flowers, and then they come to life again. It’s very exciting when the spots, speckles, stripes and gorgeous colors are on full display. My neighbor down the hall had a very large apartment and was happy to babysit them while I was away… with the possibility of adopting them forever. I didn’t realize there were so many… 25 in total. It was definitely an emotional g’bye!

Seriously… parting with these gorgeous babies was killing me!!!

My last Central Park walk was bittersweet. Although it was cold and dark, I knew I was going to miss my two- and four-legged friends. My own four-legged travel buddy had been acclimating wonderfully to his new carrier… I regularly found him snoozing in it. My own bags were packed… a lot fewer shoes than last time.

Last but not least… I got my negative covid test at a testing facility down the street. Guess I’ll see you on the other side…

L&P

BTW… You can always access earlier episodes by clicking the masthead and going to Onward to Lisbon on Substack.