What is heaven?

My, I am on a theological roll, am I not? But this isn't really about heaven. That's why I called it that of course.

Tomorrow I get to travel on a bicycle to the bus station, then on a bus to the train station, then on a train to Amsterdam Central Station, where I will either go on foot or by another bus (or maybe a cab if my patience is thin enough) to the Museumplein. I will walk past the famous musea with the famous paintings and go directly to Number 19, where the nice people at the US Consulate will (I dearly hope) begin the process of renewing Douwe's passport. And I get to do it with Douwe, an event which may well cause the US Government to change its policy about the child having to appear in person.

(You'd think The Hague, wouldn't you, where the actual embassy is. But no, passports are renewed in Amsterdam. They probably mail them to The Hague.)

(And ok, Mom, not really, Douwe is now rather fun to travel with. So is Daan. But not together. No, no, a thousand times no. I would quite literally rather drop an anvil on my foot than have to chauffeur Thing One and Thing Two on such a journey. Okay, well, with Child Restraint Devices, and maybe an Oregon Boot and a morningstar.

This little process is allowed only between the hours of (urgh) 8:30 am and 11:30 am and you have to come in person. So I get to get up at 5:00 am (urgh urgh) and wake up my 5 year old (urgh urgh urgh) and get us both out the door. I hope it will not be raining, but I expect it will be, because that's how it works.

The alternative is to get to sit in the epic traffic jams between here and Amsterdam, and also to try to park a car there, thus getting to get up at 4:30 am. I cannot believe that this is the lazy man's option but there you are.

I will also have to be cheerful about it. Or pretend to be. Because a trip which involves a bike, a bus, and a train all in one day is in fact Douwe's idea of heaven. If he gets to ride on an elevator or an escalator too, his little circle of happiness will be complete.

D'you think he'll be happy enough to trot by one or more of the aforementioned musea? If I tell him it'd make my circle of happiness complete? Is there reciprocation on the personal sacrifice thing?

Only the Shadow knows.