The art of not panicking

The art of not panicking, or "go with the flow," as my family puts it, is not my forte. So losing my wallet a week and a half outside of leaving the country? It has to be a test.

I had a friend pray a rosary over me and call on Saint Christopher to look over my travels. I think in part because my absent mindedness and ability to lose personal belongings -- typically my glasses and my car keys -- is my actual forte. My children can attest the number of times they search the house on my behalf. I have learned to be a person of habit to try and lessen this affect of short term memory loss. However, I sold my house, I am living in a motel room before I go, and habit? Yeah, that is thrown out the window.

But I still believe someone was looking out for me. When I moved, I accidentally threw away one of my credit cards (see above). It was already on order and just happened to arrive at my parent's house in the mail on Saturday around the time I realized I just lost everything. Of course my passport was already packed with my suitcase, so ID? Access to funds? Check and check!

I did start to panic. I am not happy leaving for three months without a valid driver's license in hand. Friends assured me I would only need one photo ID for international travel. It has been two years since I last left the country, so I wasn't quite sure.

I have time. I can make it to the DMV and to my bank before I go. My parents are wonderful people who I believe will help to ship those items to me (although, trusting international shipping for those two items?!? Maybe I should go without).

So, this is my first real lesson in letting go. Panicking will not resolve a thing. Me running to the DMV insisting that the government step up their game and expedite me a driver's license replacement will neither expedite the process, foster good relationships, or leave the poor DMV recipient of my panic in a great state of mind about his/her chosen profession for the day.

Instead I will breathe out. I am going to act like the grown up I profess to be. I will let due diligence and time correct the situation. Most importantly, I will accept a page out of my own book in letting natural consequences correct behavior. My behavior.

And then maybe I will look into a Tile tracker as I clearly have no internal tracking skills myself.