So, this was the first field lab of the semester involving driving students somewhere. And I went to pick up the van, and as is my habit, I left my purse in my office (locked) and took my card case and cell phone to go get the van.
And then, filling out the paperwork, I realized I was blanking on my driver's license number, something in the past I could recite off from memory (STUPID BLANKING MEMORY HOLES. That's been the worst part of the various griefs I'm dealing with: my memory is SHOT.)
So I decided: okay, I pull it out of the card case, and get the number off it.
Except.
The card wasn't in my case.
I took everything out, stacked it up, looked again.
Nope. No driver's license.
Cue freakout in 3...2....1. Because I cannot legally drive a 15 passenger* van without it.
And of course, there was rule bound Motor Pool Person, SEEING me without the card.
(*which is really 10 passenger, for safety reasons, now)
"Maybe it's....in my purse?" I said doubtfully, racking my brains - where did I hand it to someone last as ID? Could it really have been as long ago as that ill-fated Amtrak trip? How long has it been missing? She suggested I get a teaching assistant to drive (Cue "losing it Rarity" grade laughter: we don't HAVE but one TA, and I don't know if she's van certified).
So I went back, praying my card was in my purse, that it just fell out of the card case, which has the annoying habit of not staying closed, because I have about eighteen loyalty cards and a dental insurance card, a health insurance card, and a prescription card, and four credit cards, and....
I had taken the quilt shop card and an expired "discount" card from the high school band and tossed them in the trash earlier. (And then I thought - oh no. I hope the janitor didn't empty the trash yet, maybe it's not in there)
No license. No driver's license ANYWHERE. I dug through my purse three times, kneeling on the floor, practically weeping. My chair heard me and told me "Well, it's TECHNICALLY not legal but..." and I told her "But Motor Pool will never give us another vehicle if they find out, and they know my license is missing!"
Finally: a colleague drove me, because I swore I'd cancel lab before I'd drive out there illegally, because i KNOW the one time I do that, that's when some idiot rear-ends me, and it's a giant scandal, and I have to resign in shame (and go into exile, and how do you pack for exile, warm or cool?)
Anyway. We got the lab done. And I resigned myself to tracking down my social-security card, and the copy of my birth certificate, and getting out the proof of insurance from my car, and a recent utility bill, and go down to the DMV and deal with them to get a new license (and I have to renew mine on my birthday next year, and great, I have to pay twice).
But taking the van back, I thought: Maybe I ask St. Anthony for help. And then I thought: okay, maybe I look in my car, I've had to slam on the brakes a few times lately and maybe it fell out of my purse, or maybe I look on my piano at home because mmmmmmaybe I took it out and set it there for some reason? Or look in the paper trash in the wastebasket, maybe when I threw out some receipts it was wrapped up in them?
Anyway. I dug through the stuff in the passenger seat (paperwork from the last Board Meeting, paperwork we were handed at the insurance reenrollment meeting) and there it was, with the insurance re-enrollment stuff.
I don't know either. I don't remember taking it out for that. It's possible it just fell out and got mixed in with it when I last filled the car with gas - my purse was sitting there when i did that and that was when I realized my card case was kind of broken and spilling the cards out. But at least I have it back and I'm saved having to sit and fume at the DMV and hope they can help me before they close at 5.
But I am really really really really really really really ready for these minor emergencies to stop happening. As my grief counsellor noted: my cup is totally full with other stuff, and so things like this, which would be a blip in normal times, kind of push me over the edge.
Am really tempted to get a grilled-chicken sandwich from out for dinner; I'm getting a little tired of baked beans (and can probably eat them up before they go bad, I think I have 3-4 servings left and they should be good at least until Monday.)
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Rough language (and poor video quality) warning, but this is so much how I feel these days whenever ANY of the petty emergencies that I seem to have on a daily basis now gets resolved:
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