That question was asked in yesterday’s thread about the stapler.

So I’ll answer.

No, I’m not planning to become an expat.

The truth is that my passport expired a while ago and I always like to keep it current even if I don’t have travel plans. It can be used for an impromptu trip to Canada, for example, and once in a blue moon I’ve done that. It helps with any kind of international travel to keep it at the ready, because there can be quite a wait to renew a passport and quite a surcharge if you want to expedite the process.

But it’s also the case that for about three years I’ve had a short trip to Europe planned for this summer. The plan was to travel there with my ex-husband for a certain event. Back when I first planned this, his Parkinson’s wasn’t so very bad, and although it got worse over the years I still thought we could do it.

I was wrong, of course. I did get “cancel for any reason” insurance, which is quite pricy, because I worried about his health. Now, with his death, I can activate that insurance (for our particular trip, even if someone dies you don’t necessarily get a refund unless you have insurance – and of course even with insurance the insurance payment is non-refundable).

I probably could also go on the trip with someone else, but that’s tricky. It has to be a person who is healthy enough (most of my friends are not), who wants to go, and with whom I get along well enough to share a room. And I don’t know if I still even want to go, although I suppose I should.

Needless to say, the whole thing is part of what makes me very very sad these days. Very.

Speaking of which – yesterday I made a doctor’s appointment and when I was done the person on the line asked me if my ex-husband was still my emergency contact. I just about burst into tears at the unexpected question. I had to answer that no, he died. She said she was sorry and asked me if I had a replacement. I couldn’t think of a single local one, so I gave my son’s name. He lives extremely far away.