Line, line, everywhere a line

Passport season. Wow.

I joined almost all of my fellow Canadians (or so it seemed) this morning at the Passport Office. By 8:30 in the morning, there was a 3-hour wait. What else was there to do but make myself comfortable and meet the people in the line around me?

The girl in front of me was going to the states - probably the same reason for 95% of the line. The woman behind me, to Vegas and then to a vacation down south. They didn't ask where I was going, though they struck up some other conversations as we edged forward over the next hour and a half.

It's funny how strangers will talk to people they've never met before, and, in all likelihood, will never meet again. You have to wonder if these are things that they don't say to their own families, or what. The woman behind me asked if I had children (there was a baby further down the line), and I said "not yet" and mentioned I was getting married soon. She said, "Ah, new, young, love", then told me about her niece, who married her high school sweetheart, 10 years after high school, in May. In December... my brain kicked in and I heard that she found out she was expecting. I made the appropriate "oh, that's nice" sounds. Unfortunately, that's not what she said. In December, her daughter found out that her boyfriend of 10 years/husband of 7 months had always cheated on her, then he cleaned out her bank account and disappeared.

WHOA. Not just because she would tell that story to a stranger, but because she told it to a stranger who said she was about to get married. "You just never know." I guess that's true.

And I guess it takes all kinds.

Oh, and because I filled out my passport application online, I got bumped to the front of the line as soon as I got in the door; so I was out the door an hour (I'm guessing) faster than that terrible woman.

Karma? Probably not.