Two reasons why one should have ID

Have I ever mentioned that I lose things at an alarming rate? My mother always said that if my head wasn't screwed on I'd lose that too. Such a classic mother line. Thank God I've never said to my children. It was one of those things I swore I would never do. However, in my case, it is very, very true.

Today was election day in my city. For the first time they were requiring ID, and asking for pretty specific ID that most everyone should have. You know, a driver's licence (mine expired on my birthday in 2002), an Alberta Healthcare card (how many dozens of these have I lost? The only ones currently in my wallet are Liam's and Saoirse's...Sophie's did arrive in the mail a few days after her birth but it never actually made it into my wallet. Taylor's has been missing for ages. And yes, just in case you are wondering, you still get treated without your card, they just ask that you call in the number. It's not like American TV where you are bleeding to death and they aren't treating you because you have no insurance.)

Hmmm...totally went off topic. Basically, any piece of government issued ID would work. And me? I have none. Except for my s0cial insur@nce number, which was not on their approved list. Neither was my work ID, which is, if you really push it, government issued, since technically the government does fund health care, but like I said, you really have to push it. What my ID has though, is a picture (and is shitty as is required of all gov't issued ID) and an ID number. It also has a really cute monkey lanyard, but I figure that probably isn't what finally made the third person I talked to decide I could use that as my official yes you can vote ID.

And so I voted. And the person I voted for mayor won again. And one of the councillors I voted for won. This morning I saw campaigners for the second person I voted for and they were so enthusiastic that I decided to vote for him. He didn't win, but that's okay because I looked him up on Facebook and I wasn't so keen. I should have stuck with my 2 liberal votes. That's the thing about civic politics...you don't know who's what and you are forced to go by name recognition or, god forbid, personality. And we all know what politicians are like. Don't we? Just look at the guy to the south of the border. (No offense, AFF. Or any others who lean that way.) Oh, I suppose you could also do research on them. Yeah. Not me. I did quickly look up the fella I voted for, and I did like his website, but I didn't look at his facebook profile until tonight. Yes, I think from now on I am going to use facebook to make all of life's important decisions for me.

So there's reason one why you should always have proper ID. Reason number 2 involves those pesky Americans. Oh shut up. I love you all.

But again, not your president and his belief that terrorists are regularly crossing the border (which may very well be true. But I doubt it.) Because do you know what I need to cross the border come next year? Or to fly now? A passport. And what do I not have? A PASSPORT. Well, I do but it also expired in 2002. So you say to yourself...send away for a passport already you freaking idiot. And I would say to you that I think I already told you the passport story which is this:

I have a British passport. To get another British passport I need my birth certificate. Where is my birth certificate you ask? I have no idea. My mother, forgetting that I would lose my head if it was not screwed on, foolishly gave me my birth certificate, and I foolishly lost it. To get a Canadian passport I need my Canadian citizenship card and, yes, you guessed right, it is lost. It was lost once and actually mailed back to me but I lost it again. Because that is what I do, lose things. I could get a new one but I think I need my landed immigration papers (not lost! in my file folder!) and $75. I am cheap. I'm going to have to do it though because....

...I want to go to the States (or maybe Cuba...cheap! cheap!) next year. William is planning on taking the girls and Liam to Australia for a month in the summer so I thought that Taylor and I could have some quality bonding time. But what to do? If he wasn't taking Saoirse I'd say we'd go to Disneyland, but since he would like to take Saoirse and since Taylor has already been to Euro Disney I'd like to go somewhere else. New York maybe? Boston? San Diego? Vancouver (yeah I know it's in Canada!) with a couple of days in Seattle? If she were a Laura Ingalls Wilder freak like her mother I'd say South Dakota or Missouri. Of course, this all hinges on my saving money and knowing me the reality is we wouild have just about enough to make it all the way to Calgary, a grand total of 3 hours away by car.

But of course, first I need to get ID.