Oh Well…

We had it all planned. We were going to drive to Vancouver BC, go east on the Trans-Canada Highway as far as Winnipeg MB, then northwest through Edmonton AB to Jasper and south through the mountains back to Spokane WA and home. A cousin in Bremerton WA whose partner died last year planned a Celebration of Life for him on June 3, so that determined when we would set off on our Canada trip.

On Saturday we drove up to Olympia WA in intermittent rain to spend time with our daughter and her family and stayed overnight. Sunday we went on to Bremerton. It was rainy, with much more rain forecast, but we enjoyed an afternoon in the cousin’s home with other relatives from Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada and Colorado. It was good to see them all.

Monday morning at the motel we went downstairs for breakfast and returned to the room 20 minutes later to discover that both our purses were gone. I called the front desk while Andrea began calling credit card companies. We spent the next 3 hours on the phone with banks and credit unions and filing a police report.

But with no ID, no credit cards, no driver license, who are you?

We finally went to the Celebration of Life, but we were still antsy and left during a lull to go to the Navy base to get new military ID cards, so at least we would have something. The ID office was very efficient and we were able to return to the cousin’s house after being gone about an hour to enjoy the wonderful stories told by Jack’s friends and relatives, including a friend’s bagpipe salute. Despite a forecast of heavy rain, the entire proceedings were under sunny, partly cloudy skies with a chill wind. It was a good, heartwarming celebration.

Nine of us went out to supper together Monday evening, and then we wished them all goodbye. After a fitful night’s sleep, we drove home through the rain. In Portland we stopped at our credit union to get new credit and debit cards and checks, then on to the Tesla service center to get a new car fob and have the car and my fob reprogrammed so the stolen fob wouldn’t operate it. And finally, home, stopping at the front desk to get new house keys, since our door locks had been rekeyed on Monday.

So now we are home. We need new driver licenses and seemingly myriad other IDs. One huge glitch is that I carried a blank check in my wallet. Don’t do that. It is causing some of the most difficult problems. 

We are slowly working down our list of replacing what was lost. We are safe, and our only injury is to our sense of wellbeing. We have begun talking about what to do after we get things settled but have made no decisions yet.

This is the third year in a row that we have planned a trip to or through the Canadian Rockies. We’ve had to cancel or cut short each one. Perhaps the universe is telling us not to go there.

Oh well.