Did I give you my debit card?

Everyone who knows me well enough knows that I have my own idea of what organization is. There could be a pile of papers on the floor somewhere and to an innocent bystander, they could very well appear to be in disarray. However, in my world, this would not be the case. just because they look that way, does not mean I don't know what's there. They are all organized according to whatever system I see fit at the time.

This being said, there are several things that I often "misplace" and have a tendency to run around the house looking for. Andrew laughs at my morning ritual as I run up and down the stairs trying to find each of these things before leaving for work. The list includes, but is not limited to:

My keys
My sunglasses
The current book I'm reading
My phone
And.....
My debit card

I know. I know. It would make more sense to set everything out the night before and have a special place where all of these things are located so that I'm not running around every morning, rushing to get to work on time. But that's not how I function....apparently.

The last item in this list (aka my debit card) I am constantly "losing" via placing it in my back pocket and it getting washed in the washer, placing it in my purse and it somehow getting stuck in the little notebook I carry, ect. ect, ect.

I try to put it right back in my wallet where it belongs...really I do. It just doesn't always happen. And most of the time, I'm really lucky because I find it right away. No worries. Ahem...notice, I said "most of the time".

So as many of you already know, Andrew and I went to Vermont last year. We left early one morning and drove straight through. Upon arriving, we drove through the small town of Bennington, VT in order to get to the place we were staying in Wilmington, VT. Needless to say, when we saw this little town, we couldn't wait to explore it. It had all of these cute, little shops, and beautiful churches and a monument. And I was also extremely excited to find out that it houses the cemetery where Robert Frost is buried. So cool!!!

So it was decided. The next morning, we would get up and drive to Bennington to further explore it. That morning we set out. We walked across the street and ate at the little bakery. We sat on the porch and watched the little town come alive. It had been drizzling a little but once we had finished our muffins, hot tea and coffee (delicious!), it had stopped. We decided to start our journey into Bennington.

Once we arrived, we sat in the car briefly to make sure we had everything we needed. I distinctly remembered getting my debit card out of my wallet and putting it in my back pocket so I wouldn't have to carry my purse. We had our sunglasses. Andrew had his wallet. We were all set. We got out of the car and I turned around to laugh at my crumby parallel parking (I blame it on the fact that I'm too short to see how far I am from the curb...), and we started walking towards the cemetery.

We were standing on the corner of the street, waiting for the bird to chirp on the "walk" sign and I instinctively placed my hand in my back pocket.

"Uh oh."

Andrew looked at me, "What?"

"Did I give you my debit card?"

"No....why?"

"I can't find it....Oh shit. It's our first day and I've already lost it!! What are we going to do? What if it fell out of the car when we got out? What if someone already found it and is using it right now?What...."

"Calm down. Let's just go back to the car and look for it."

And so we did. We looked inside the car. We looked inside my purse. We looked underneath the car. On top of the car. Underneath the car parked behind us. Under the seats again. We looked everywhere. And...

Nothing.

I just sat there in the driver's seat with a solemn look on my face. We were hundreds of miles away from home and had no access to half the money we had saved for this trip. Needless to say...

We were screwed.

But Andrew, oh sweet and loving man that he is, didn't panic. He remained calm through it all. (Let me just say this is one of the things I love the most about our relationship. When one person is down, the other is right there beside them, helping to keep them up.) We sat in silence. And looked out at the little town we had yet to explore.

I started to panic and began flipping the car seats up and back down, looking through every nook and cranny and then....

"AHA!!!!" I exclaimed.

"What? What?? Did you find it?"

"Oh sorry...no. I just found the other pair of sunglasses I lost last year. They were under the seat..."

He just looked at me....

"What?"

So we continued to look. And look and look.....AND......

"Oh! There is a God!!! Thank you Thank you Thank you Lord!!!!!"

"What? Did you find something else you lost?"

"No! I found it! I found it! It was between the seats the whole time! And you were worried that I lost it! See, I knew I would find it. No big deal. Right?"

Silence....

"Andrew....?"

He just stared at me for a moment and then said only one thing: "You are never ever ever allowed to take out your debit card other than to buy something and then you are to put it right back in your wallet. Agreed?"

"Ok." I said "Agreed."....."Yea! Now we can start our vacation!!!"

He just smiled at me. "I love you." he said.

"I love you back. "

Sigh. This is why we work. And it was the best. vacation. EVER!!!



Me after Andrew told me I couldn't take my debit card out of my wallet. (Hee hee. Notice how far away from the curb I am:)