08/06/2026
✈️🇵🇱 It was quite a dramatic journey, one that began back in March, when my Polish passport expired.
At the time, I still wasn’t healthy enough to travel to the Polish Consulate in Chicago, where applicants are required to appear in person. I emailed to ask whether there might be any way to complete the process virtually, but soon discovered that renewing my passport would be much more complicated than I expected.
My passport was the only remaining document that still showed my maiden and married names hyphenated. Before I could apply for a new one, I had to petition, through the Consulate and the appropriate authorities in Poland, to have my maiden name officially removed.
The process took three months.
When the decision finally arrived, it came on a Saturday while I wasn’t home. Because a signature was required, I had to wait until Monday to learn the outcome. The letter was addressed using both of my names, which made me fear that the decision had not gone in my favor.
Thankfully, I was wrong.
My overwhelming happiness was quickly dimmed by another obstacle: there were absolutely no passport appointments available, not online, by email, or over the phone.
As a final attempt, I followed up on the email thread I had started back in March. To my surprise, I received a response the very next morning. Although regular appointments were already being scheduled as far out as October, the Consul recognized that I was hoping to travel much sooner and asked when I could come to Chicago to apply for both my permanent and temporary passports.
The temporary passport could be issued the same day.
Then came a considerable amount of calendar mathematics, working around my infusions, upcoming events, and doctors’ appointments. Somehow, I made it all fit.
I arrived at the Polish Consulate on August 3, received my temporary passport, flew to Poland on August 4, and landed on August 5, my mom’s 70th birthday.
It felt like an absolute miracle. I had only 10 days to prepare for the trip, and those 10 days were beyond intense, but somehow, it all came together.
She had absolutely no idea I was coming.
We surprised her…and this is how it all went dow