identification tender_square let me start this off by saying that i don’t lose things. yesterday, however, i lost my state-issued driver’s license. and how it happened is really eerie and unusual. let’s go back to two days ago: i left the states to cross into canada late in the afternoon to see family. whenever i cross the border, i use my passport. there’s no reason to touch the id in my wallet. yesterday, after returning from a friend’s house for lunch, i asked my husband if he wanted to go for a walk. i offered to drive us to the ford test track and do a lap since our neighborhood in windsor doesn’t have a lot of sidewalks unless you cross a busy intersection. i was wearing pants with two tight front pockets; they aren’t designed with back pockets. i pulled my driver’s license from my wallet and slipped it into my right pocket. i slid my cell phone into my left pocket. then, i realized i would need to take keys for the house and keys for the car; my current arrangement wasn’t going to work. i had a huge purse with me that i wasn’t going to take either. so i reached for my small satchel i use in the mornings when i go for long walks on my own. i pulled the id and phone from my pocket, and put the keys into the mini bag, slung it over my shoulder, and we left the house. my car has keyless entry; so long as the keys are on my person, it will unlock. the same goes for the ignition—no key is required, it’s push-button start. i can also lock the doors by holding a certain area of the handle with my touch, again, so long as the keys are on me. this means that i did not open my small purse once before, during, or after the walk. my husband and i did a lap around the track. we returned to the car and drove back home. when we got inside the house, i opened the small purse and emptied its contents out, putting the items back into my big purse. i did this so i could pack the small purse in my luggage since we were leaving to cross the border back into the states a few hours from that time. i thought i had put my id back into my wallet. it makes sense that i would do this. for two hours after, i was puttering around the house. at one point, i was preparing to make an online purchase and needed to pull my debit card from my wallet to complete it. that’s when i realized that my id wasn’t there in the front pocket. i began scouring the house. i worried that i had dropped it somewhere. my id comes in a little blue paper sleeve to protect it from electromagnetic interference. it bears my michigan address, what is technically my “home” because i reside there full time. i do not have a canadian id that lists my address in windsor because i am not a resident of the country though i am a citizen. there have been times in the past where my id sleeve has stuck to the back of my silicone phone case when the two have been in close quarters together. when i couldn’t find the card, i looked along the floors to make sure that it hadn’t accidentally dropped somewhere else in the house when i was carrying my cellphone around. as i mentioned earlier, the pants i was wearing yesterday were tight. even if i had theoretically left the id in there before the walk, i don’t think it could’ve slipped out. and i would’ve noticed the id poking me if i hadn’t emptied my pockets when i was using the facilities later. i checked all the floors in every room i had been in. there was nothing. i unpacked my luggage and shook out every article of clothing. i checked between couch cushions. i stripped the bed. i moved the seats in the car. my husband went through the trash while i went through the recycling bin. the windsor house doesn’t have that much furniture, there aren’t many places where the id could have fallen and not be seen. the id was nowhere. eventually, i had to call off the search because it was time to leave and have dinner with my family before crossing the border to head back to the states. we drove back to the park and i gave a cursory look in the lot and at the end of the trail. nothing. and i can’t help but think about how bizarre it is to lose the plastic card that bears the address and state of the place i want to move from in the city (and country) i want so desperately to move back to. if that’s not a fucking sign, i don’t know what is. 220806 what's it to you? who go blather from