A stitch in time saves nine.

I was so pleased with myself. The Big Girl's passport exires in July, and I planned to apply for the renewal in Kansas City. Because she's under fourteen, I have to apply in person.

One of the drawbacks of New York is that if you're trying to do something, at least thirty other people are also trying to do it. And for something like a passport renewal--well, maybe it wouldn't be a hassle, but I wouldn't want to find out. And in Kansas City, you just hop in your car and go; somehow that makes it seem a lot easier.

At Christmas, I applied for the Little Girl's passport in Kansas City, and it couldn't have been quicker or easier.

So I gathered the application form, passport photos, and the notarized letter from the Big Man, allowing me to apply for a passport without his presence. Then, just before we were about to set off, I decided to double-check the passport agency's website. And I saw that I needed the Big Girl's birth certificate--which I'd left in New York.

I'm so annoyed with myself. Usually I double- and triple-check requirements like this; what happened?

Because I'd thought I'd avoided having to do this errand in New York, it now looms even more horribly in my mind. Aargh.

When I was young, I was puzzled by the adage: "A stich in time saves nine." I just didn't understand the meaning of the sentence. Then finally light dawned: "Oh, it means that taking one stich right away saves needing to take nine stitches later."

Like many wise old sayings, it's absolutely true. If I'd taken fifteen seconds to double-check the requirements on-line before leaving New York, I'd have made my task a lot easier. Plus I would have been able to do an annoying errand during a vacation day, instead of a work day. (Unlike many wise old sayings, "A stitch in time saves nine" isn't contradicted by some other wise old saying. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" and "Out of sight, out of mind." "He who hesitates is lost" and "Haste makes waste."

Oh, well. I remind myself of another wise old saying: "Don't make a mountain out of a molehill."

Comments

[Monica Ricci]

Gretchen, you are a woman after my own heart. A stitch in time does indeed save nine (or with inflation, more like fourteen) stitches later. Your post inspired my post today. ~Monica

[Alison Tuck]

It's funny, but I've just posted a poem by Elizabeth Bishop that supports your use of the good old adage "Don't make a mountain..." That's synchronicity I believe! Lovely post, Gretchen.

[Jojo]

Thank you, I am a nursing student and the saying "a stitch in time saves nine" is one that we are told to asks patients to interpret to assess their state of consciousness...and, even I had a hard time. Many people in South Florida are not born Americans, I cannot see anyone truly understanding much less intrepreting this...after all, it isn't one of the cliches we hear on a regular basis. So, thank you for sheading some light. Now, it makes sense.