Okay, so the certified copy of my birth certificate finally arrived.

Nice to know I was born. And that my folks weren't lying about the date and place.

Four and a half hours. I missed being born on my favorite holiday by four and a half hours.

'Course, if I hadn't been born so close to it, that might not be my favorite holiday...

But they misspelled my father's middle name.

And no, this isn't the same misspelling he had to correct on his own birth records so many years ago. This is another typo. An 'H' instead of an 'R'.

Probably not worth the worrying about, right?

And why, you might ask, did I request a certified copy of my birth certificate?

No, I'm not applying for some other job.

We're applying for passports. 'Cause, having never been out of this country (well, the wife has, I haven't), we have been having the typical "What if?" worries of parents whose offspring is leaving the US of A.

And what if something happens in Russia, and we need to be there?

Yes, I know, we could probably get an emergency hardship processing through our State Department. But why not be prepared, just in case? (Although, the birth certificate process has taken so long, I'm sure he'll have been to Russia and back again before we actually receive our passports).

But, at least, we'll have the damn things if we ever get the opportunity to visit Canada sometime. Or Australia. Or better still, Ireland.

Yes, I'm aware that for many of you, passports are as common to your lives as driving licenses are to ours. But the US is a big country. You can do a lot of traveling (and I haven't), and still never leave it.

Have I mentioned how much time I've been spending on Russian websites? And looking at youngest son's future home city on Flickr and Google Earth? That is so cool to be able to see places across the planet through the lenses of folks who have been or are there, rather than some tourist-attracting website.

Find a picture of the university he'll be attending, and then go find that building on a satellite photo. And the market he will likely use. To find someone's casual pictures of street corners he will soon be walking.

You know, the internet hasn't made the world one damn bit smaller.

But it has so stretched our senses...

Gorgeous city he's headed to.

No, no. I take that back. It's a really nice city he's headed to.

Saint Petersburg... now that's a gorgeous city.

I want to go.