Many of you have shared this horrific ordeal: you wake up from a day/night of fun, putter around for a few hours, maybe run some errands, then head home to take inventory of your current situation. I like you went about my weekend as usual, that was until one Sunday night when I was preparing myself for the week ahead. As I usually do, I checked my e-mail, made the necessary parental phone calls, and did some last minute homework before the ever-popular Sunday Night Lineup on TV began.
I was feeling lazy so I decided to order myself dinner from Nick's Canteen and relax as I enjoyed my weekly dramas. Yes this had been a fun weekend, nothing really out of the ordinary, that was until my food had arrived at the front door. I pulled out my wallet to grab some cash when I noticed the only items in this small leather case were a twenty-dollar bill, my student ID, and my ATM card. I paid the delivery boy and went inside. Where was my driver's license? At this point I did not panic. This would not have been the first time I simply dropped it into my purse rather than putting it safely back into my wallet. I was sure it would be in there.
I ran up the three flights of stairs to my room in the sorority house attic and dumped the contents of my purse onto my bed. Not there. I decided I would check all the pockets as they have a tendency of hiding small objects. Yet, still no sign of my ID. Ah ha! I should check the pockets of my jeans that I wore yesterday. At this point, I was beginning to get a little concerned. I had one last option: my jacket pockets.
With my mind racing and the thoughts of having to return home only to wait hours in the dismal DMV line, I admitted defeat. Where could that little plastic card have gone? This was not the first time I had lost my ID. Last year, an expedition to the haunted hayride left me muddy, wallet-less, and embarrassed at my irresponsibility. These two weeks after the hayride were pretty miserable for me. Without the contents of my wallet I could not go out, I didn’t have access to any money because I had to cancel my ATM card, and I couldn’t even print documents at the library without my student ID. I was not about to let this mishap ruin my already planned social events for this coming week.
So I began retracing my steps. Let’s see… where was I the last time I remember having my ID? Saturday was a pretty busy day. I ran a lot of errands and used my debit card. I thought I was smart and signed the back of my card “SEE PHOTO ID” in an attempt to protect myself against card fraud. Oh lucky me I took out that ID at least a half a dozen times that day, who knew Morgantown cashiers were so thorough in credit card authorization?