Losing Your Wallet

A few weeks ago upon arriving home after my weekly Tuesday night softball game, I had a sudden jolt of fear when I realized I did not have my wallet. After completely scouring my car for several minutes I then decided to make the trek back to the field to see if I could get lucky. Unfortunately, a Cubs game had just ended, so a normal 10 minute voyage took almost 30 and it was not to be a lucky night.. my wallet was nowhere to be found. I held out slim hope that someone might turn it in, but deep down I already knew it was gone forever. Anyone who has ever lost their wallet knows what a pain it is to get everything replaced. As noted earlier in this blog, several annoying automated service phone calls were definitely in my future.

One thing I had going for me is I keep the anti-Costanza wallet. In other words, I kept it to the bare essentials as far as contents. Even with the bare minimum, though, I now had to replace a company credit card, personal credit card, debit card, insurance card, CTA card, and driver's license. Who knew that the EASIEST card to replace would be my insurance card? I thought for sure that would be the largest headache, but I had a new insurance card on the way after a quick 45 second phone call. As far as everything else -- no such luck.

I had the joy of being told my debit card would take 10-14 days to arrive, but I had the option to "expedite" the process for a mere $40. It would then only take up to 7 days!! Wow!!! That was a really tough decision. Oh yeah, I was also told my pin would arrive another 5 days after the card arrived, so it basically was going to be worthless anyways.

After a good 4 hours on the phone and the usual painful trip to the DMV, I was finally confident that all replacement cards were on the way. The insurance card arrived in a couple of days, the credit cards and debit card in about a week (even without the expedited add-on!), but the ONLY card that was being ordered locally in the city of Chicago - my CTA transportation card -- was nowhere to be found. How the heck does it take 3 weeks to send a replacement card? Anyone who uses the CTA on a regular basis obviously knows the answer. My guess is that they were "waiting for signals ahead."

My life is now back in working order with the return of everything in my wallet. It's definitely in the top 3 for things you never want to lose along with cell phone and keys. It is sad it has taken me several lost phones to perform the "wallet, phone, keys" self-check everytime I leave home and enter/leave a cab. Losing your wallet is one of the most dis-heartening, annoying things a person can go through. As Mitch Hedburg put it "it's hard to dance when you've lost your wallet."