Not least because, whilst I seem to spend more time speaking to special advisers than I do to my own family, Fiona Cunningham - Mrs May's special adviser - had never returned my calls in more than two years.
During the months of waiting for the American consulate to issue him a visa to return, his doctoral adviser in Berkeley dropped him from a research project rather than abandon it.
In 1989, Cohan resigned as artistic director and retired to France, but agreed to return as artistic adviser in 1992, after two new directors came and went in quick succession.
Soon after Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi returned home, an adviser to Myanmar's president criticized her for lacking "transparency" and for her comments warning investors against "reckless optimism" about Myanmar.
"Barak is so intent he is like a horse with blinders, and this will make it simpler here, although harder when he returns home," an adviser to the prime minister said.
Since returning as an adviser in late 1996 when Apple bought Next Software and being named interim CEO the following year, Jobs has nimbly managed to untangle the mess he inherited from a knot of predecessors and galvanized a fractious Mac cognoscenti.
Recently he returned as lead adviser for the program's second season, scheduled to debut on CNN in early March and continue for six weeks on successive Sunday nights.
The reasons for his prolonged stay remain as murky as his motivation for returning, but advisers and confidants cite two primary motivations: the lack of a valid passport and the court investigation into allegations of corruption and human rights abuses during his 15-year reign.
Many investors have been burnt by Nasdaq's drop, so they're more likely to return to their trusty adviser.
Mrs. Clinton has not given up, in her head or her heart, her quest to return to the White House, advisers say.
"Cass was itching, itching, itching to send a return letter," the adviser said.
