Wave That Flag...

We have a saying in our family, delightfully coined by my precocious nephew, HeHeely, called an 'Ass Flag' moment...ah yes, wave that flag!!!! I swear, we could have our own little united nations at the front of our house with all our little ass flag moments...right now, to put it in perspective, you know the flag that hangs outside the Irving truck stop on the way to Nova Scotia (um hm, huge - ginormous - way big)

So I'm packing up our stuff after a wonderful 12 day vacation back east with my family... I go into the zippered compartment to grab our passports.... - GASP! no passports!! Where are the passports??!!!! ok, don't panic, I'm sure they're somewhere (well, of course they're somewhere, but definitely NOT where they should have been nor where I expected them to be)....

Ok, take a deep breath, I'm sure you put them in a safe place, just take a moment and think...think where you last had them....they should BE in my carryon dammit....argh!!!!

Mom, have you seen my passports? (Ok, THAT in itself is an ass flag moment, I should have just kept my mouth shut because now I can physically see my mother's blood pressure beginning to rise as she slowly slides into a semi-nervous panic attack)...breathe Mom...

Can.not.find.them....snap! (that's not really what I said, but c'mon folks let's try to keep it clean!)

I phone Westjet (luv those guys...except when they put you on hold for 10 minutes then inadvertently cut you off...)... now I feel my pressure on the rise.....big sigh, phone again...at least they don't give the cheezy elevator music, instead it's this guy trying to be funny and sometimes succeeding, but puh-leez I am not in the mood for humor at this particular moment in time....
...no they have not had them turned in, and yes you can fly within the country without a passport...well then, thank goodness I don't need to call my boss and tell her I'm stuck in NB and will have to take the train back to Alberta!!!

By now my mother is laying on the bed (after emptying out the entire contents of three suitcases in an attempt to find my passports, to which I have to RE-pack them again...) trying to slow down her breathing....don't worry mom, you won't be stuck with me for another 12 days...heh heh....like she would mind that....

What if they were stolen? How the he// would that happen?? They MUST be somewhere (*insert comment from above*)...

Well, I'm not going to worry about it, at least we can get on the plane...but of course, if you know me at all, this little glitch is circling in my mind ALL the way to the airport, AT the airport, ALL the way home (which was a 7 hour flight, on top of the two hours it was delayed)...you get the idea...

Now - keep in mind I've been back home since the 29th...my brain is dizzy from all the circling...
Un-pack, look again, think - empty purse, look again, think....snap!!!

Should I cancel my passports? Geez, not if I can help it....trying to get all that documentation together again plus all the signatures and hoop jumping (not a good hoop jumper..)...

...and then.....the CALL!!!!...'Excuse me, we have your passports at the EIA'... Glory be!!! (because....seriously, I had picked up the phone and called the passport office just today, then hung the phone up again - I just couldn't bring myself to cancel them)...

I'm going to patent something akin to those lovely little mitties my auntie use to make me when I was a little girl - you know, the ones with the little strings that go through the arms so you don't lose them???....