Today’s Emergencies

I am not a person who normally misplaces things. I tend to be very regular in my organization of all things in the house and since I don’t do major reorganizations, where things are put are in my long term memory. I do keep a list of things I hide and where I have hidden them because if it is a new hiding place I might forget. Hidden items are different from everyday items.

Today I was packing for my work trip to the Bahamas. I know, it sounds bougie, but I am the teacher, not a guest.

I went to get my passport from the drawer I have kept it in for 30 years. I opened the drawer, which is packed with other slightly important stuff, but not as important as the passports. It was not there. Since we keep all our passports together in the same black case it is usually easy to spot amongst the folders of white papers.

I opened the similar drawer on the other side to see if it was in there. It wasn’t. I opened and rummaged through nine drawers in total and could not find the case. I had a sick feeling in my stomach, well I’ve had a sick feeling all week, it just got a little worse.

I called to Russ, who thankfully was home. Did he have the passports? No, they are in the drawer. No, they are not. He came down to the room with nine drawers and rummaged around.

Did we take the passports to Maine? It may sometimes feel like a different country, but no, we were able to legally enter the state without our passports. I asked if by chance they were in his brief case.

I went to the closet of all things travel, bags, and packing cubes and power converters and hats you only wear on vacation. I went through all the carry on bags. Nothing.

Russ had given up in the room of drawers. So I went back and looked through the shelves. I reopened the original drawer in hopes of it magically appearing. No, but when I shut the drawer it would not close all the way. The drawer was hitting something inside, in the back.

I called to Russ with the urgency of June Cleaver, needing Ward to open a jar. He came back and with the aid of a flashlight spotted the passport case in the back of the cabinet. It took quiet a lot of doing to figure out how to remove the drawer, which we never actually did, but Russ did get it to come out enough that he was able to snake a long fingered hand in and retrieved the passport case.

These kind of artificial emergencies I just don’t need this week. Especially since Shay threw up something gross and very unusual for her and I took her to the vet for a $500 consult with X-rays and ultra sound to find out her organs and systems are all fine. Next week has got to be better.