And then the rest of the story

Like all good stories, everyone already knows the ending.  We're going to Cairo.  And so, secure in that knowledge that everything ends Happily Ever After, the story can unfold with everyone worrying how it will work out with the security of knowing that it actually will.  Stories are best told after they have concluded, not in medias res.

Six days after Flag Day, Brandon received a call after work from his CDO.  Cairo was no longer an option.  Med had not cleared Kathleen for Cairo because of a medical condition that is really, not much of a condition at all.  However, Med is Med and they have their own, strange criteria for medically fit areas of the world.  Evidently it didn't include Cairo, but did include Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Skopje, Macedonia; Mumbai, India and Lagos Nigeria.  

So we were left with four options and after discussion Brandon was kind enough to honor my preferences and we decided that the Dominican Republic was the place for us.  

Brandon sent out a few e-mails asking Cairo Med to accept us (they wouldn't) and asking Med why in heaven's name Nigeria was supposed to be more medically fit for small children than Cairo (dengue fever, malaria, car jackings, and home invasions vs. an incredibly slim chance of hospitalization?).

Meanwhile, we got ready to go to the DR.  I did the most important thing and looked up resorts we could use our 21 holiday days on.  We looked at cars and how much we wanted to spend on them.  I looked at flights.  We planned a nice R&R to Tortola.  And I thought about spending the next two years in a crumbling Caribbean country.  Not that bad of a prospect, really.

So the next Friday morning came, and Brandon composed an email to his CDO informing her that the DR was the place for us.  Before, however, he could send it, we got this email:

Mr. Sherwood, I have reviewed your daughter’s case and have approved Cairo for her. She is still a class 2 and needs post approval for her next post. judy

And so, all thoughts of Caribbean beaches disappeared in a pouf of sand, honking cars, and Egyptians.