Identification missing!

Her name is Pamela Williams.

Her story begins on a cold winter day in early January, the kind of day you wish you could stay home, sipping cups of hot chocolate and just lounging. However, that cold January day was certainly not going to be like this. It was the day of Pamela and Jason’s five-year-old son’s doctor’s appointment.

The pediatric allergy specialist the Williams family had been instructed to see was located near Manhattan. The query went well. They left the office satisfied, but with some reservations about whether or not to continue with the regiment of medications prescribed for Johnny’s skin rashes.

Being so close to Jason’s business associates gave them good reason to continue their adventure in Manhattan’s business district. They parked in a city lot and started the long, cold walk to the man’s office. Pamela and Johnny marveled at the various characters that made up the hordes of crowds on the catwalks. As exciting as it was, it left them with an unusual sense of chaos and disorder.

Jason, acting as a guide, seemed to be in control. Skillfully guided Pamela and Johnny through the labyrinth of humanity. They finally reached the building of their destination. Go up the elevator, down the hall, through the security doors. They had finally made it.

While Jason consulted with the gentleman in the office, Pamela busied herself in the anteroom talking with Johnny. Everything seemed to be going pretty nice.

It was late when the trio left the gray office building. As impossible as it seemed, the stark reality was that the crowds on the streets and sidewalks of Manhattan had at least doubled. Stay together, stay together, Pamela thought as panic began to build.

Pamela and Johnny half ran, half walked to keep up with Jason’s fast pace. Pamela gripped Johnny’s hand tightly. The crowds made it impossible to walk in a line all the time, but they kept one another on their toes. Finally, they reached the busy post office. Together they entered. Together they walked down the steps to the mailboxes. Jason took his key, opened the box, and retrieved the mail. They prepared for another encounter with the mad rush of the human mass.

As they left the building, Pamela recognized a certain uncomfortable lightness. Something was wrong. Pamela instinctively reached for her purse. I was not there!

“Where is my wallet?” Pamela’s voice took on an artificial high pitch. He quickly rummaged through the bag of miscellaneous in which he had brought his lunch. No wallet!

As the masses passed, Pamela felt sweat pour out and panic build. Jason’s face reflected emotions.

They retraced their steps. No, the post office security had no idea of ​​a lost wallet. No sign of him on the floor, or on the ledge. No wallet anywhere. The crowds surged in an endless stream.

Suddenly, it registered in Pamela’s mind! She had left her wallet – IN HER HUSBAND’S ASSOCIATE’S OFFICE! Pamela’s body heat dropped a degree. Yes, she was almost certain … She had left her purse on the floor next to her chair while she handed out lunch to Johnny … UNLESS … Pamela knew she had accompanied Johnny a few times to … THE ROOM BATHROOM!

Quickly, they returned to the office building. The entrance was closed. No sign of any security guard. However, Pamela was sure. His wallet was there, hopefully, innocently placed on the floor of the office anteroom on the fifth floor. The only thing gnawing at her brain was the thought that maybe, just maybe, she’d left it in the ladies’ room, accessible to anyone …

Pamela pushed the unpleasant thought aside. They advanced through the crowd, pausing for a few moments to put a particular credit card on hold. The rest would have to wait. Pamela wasn’t sure which credit cards she had in her wallet, and besides, she had the feeling, albeit a bit shaky, that everything would be fine in the morning.

They traveled home, engaging in light conversation and cautiously avoiding the approaching fear.

That night honestly passed without incident.

The next morning, Pamela eagerly anticipated the happy news of the discovery of a lonely wallet on the floor of her husband’s partner’s office. Unfortunately, the joy never came. Instead, a terrible feeling of intense fear washed over his heart.

“He didn’t find it? Are you sure? He looked everywhere for it?”

Yes, apparently he had. Persuading him to go inside and search the ladies’ room hadn’t been too successful, but Jason managed to get him to at least recruit one woman to investigate. The results: NULL! ANY!

Pamela felt like fainting at that moment. There, in the holes of her wallet, were credit cards, her passport, her green card, her birth certificate (since she needed it to travel abroad she had not had the opportunity to keep them, how irresponsible, she told herself ). now) her checkbook, her health insurance card, her social security card, her children’s social security cards … Pamela’s head took on a form of very severe pain.

The phone calls started.

“Yes, I’m canceling,” Pamela heard herself tell customer service for each of the countless credit cards she believed to be lost. The strange thing about her questions about whether recent purchases had been recorded was that over and over she was told no. Why, he thought, why wouldn’t a thief use an irresistible credit card? He knew that a lost credit card in the hands of an unscrupulous character was like candy in the hands of a child. The same applied to his checking account. No recent transactions. Strange …

Then he noticed Pamela.

His whole ‘me’ was in that pocket. Pamela imagined her Canadian passport, her social security card, too many forms of identification dancing mockingly before her eyes. How silly she had been to walk around with everything when others lock up documents like these!

As Pamela made the calls to the different agencies involved with the identity theft, her mind played real-life videos of a vile terrorist walking the streets in the guise of a woman with a very Anglo-sounding name.

Pamela eagerly tried to make a police report about her lost (or, gulp, stolen) wallet. It became clear that a police report would require an in-person visit to the nearest police station to the loss. Getting back to Manhattan was not going to be easy.

And as the severity of the situation took hold of Pamela, she realized that getting a replacement social security card involved presenting the authorities with a form of identification, such as a license, a birth certificate, a green card, a passport. . … and that obtaining a replacement for the myriad other documents that he had lost (or- gulp- been stolen) involved presenting … the same various forms of identification. Pamela got lost in a sea, fighting for lifebuoys that weren’t there!

Suddenly, it hit Pamela like a ton of bricks. She was not an entity! To nobody! Without the documents that prove her existence, Pamela Williams does not officially exist. It was a thought that almost made me lose control. Suddenly she was not supposed to drive, she was not allowed to leave the country … What if her parents needed her in Montreal? What if there is an emergency? What if? …

Pamela’s mind refused to wander further. She frantically went to work to obtain a birth certificate. That, he thought, would be the beginning of a passport, a US green card, a social security card, a license … Would the list finally end?

It seemed like all the apps required a fee as well. A substantial one at that.

When the rate list caught Jason’s attention, he concluded that they should wait, just a little while longer. Maybe the wallet still showed up in the office. Maybe someone had found it and would still report it. No one had used the credit cards, no one had tried to withdraw money from the bank …

It was a glimmer of hope, but faint in light of the fact that now Pamela had nightmares of a dark underground figure with her identity turning her (or could it be him?) Sinister rounds in the dreary nightclub spots where other terrorists They come together to conspire.

Pamela put off applying for the green card for a short time. However, her task of regaining her Canadian birth rights continued. Enlisting the help of her former teacher, who was now the principal of the school she had attended, she managed to receive a letter saying that she was Pamela Williams, known as such for x number of years. The precious letter waited on Pamela’s dining room table along with the too many other apps she had purchased. I hope. For the time being.

Life took a different form. It evolved around Pamela’s situation. He would get up in the morning with the fear of having problems with his identity. He sent the children to school with the same fear. While doing laundry, Pamela dreamed of being rescued by a hero who had located her wallet. And while shopping, he decided to live in the shadow of an alien who had his precious documents. Although life danced happily around him in the form of health and family life, he was completely missing the beat. Not only, apparently, had Pamela’s identity documents been taken away, but with them they had taken away her inner happiness.

Life went on. One morning when Pamela was ready to submit the application that would be the catalyst for others once it was processed (her birth certificate), she picked up the ringing phone.

“Hello. “

“Pamela?” Jason sounded more cheerful than usual.

“Yes, how are you?” Pamela replied in the monotonous tone that had recently taken over her voice.

“I have good news,” he said.

“Good news? What is it?” she asked.

“Guess” he said.

“Guess? I can’t guess now,” he said. “I am so busy, what is it?”

“Just guess,” he pressed. What would be good news now? “

“Who won the playoffs? I really don’t have time for games right now. What’s up?”

“It’s not about games,” Jason said. “It’s about something you lost.”

There was a long silence as Pamela paused to digest his insistence.

In a very low voice, almost in a whisper, he said, “My wallet? Did someone find my wallet?”

“They found him in the office. Sitting there, Pamela.”

“Wow,” he said quietly. “They really found it. Thank goodness! But, I don’t understand. Why did it take three whole weeks to discover my wallet lying on the corner of the floor?”

There was silence from the other end.

“Woof!” she kept repeating. “I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Thank you.”

Pamela placed the receiver on its holder and sat down. It had been three long weeks since his wallet disappeared. Three weeks full of apprehension and dread. Pamela wanted to dance, celebrate, sing. Instead, she sat thoughtfully and simply basked in her newfound relief.

In fact, life has taken on a refreshing new wave. Since that heavy moment in Pamela’s life, she has learned to be much more careful with her personal information. Your passport and documentation are kept under lock and key. Credit cards and the Internet are treated with reverence. And it even added identity theft coverage to your NJ homeowners insurance policy.

The incidents in relation to the landscape of life are nothing short of staggering. Small but important changes are needed to acquire the priceless gift of peace of mind.