The Great American Road Trip: Day 93 - Your mother is always right

My last full day in DC I had some big plans to hit up a bunch of the museums. As usual, sometimes big plans mean big changes in those plans. I got a bit of a late start to the day, taking advantage of a morning when I could sleep in a bit. I went to Katie's office and was happy to run a quick errand to pick up some of her prescriptions at the Walgreens near the metro where I was going to leave my car. As you might expect, a quick stop turned into a pretty long wait, and that's when I realized that I was missing my driver's license. I mentally retraced my steps - it wasn't in my purse, it wasn't in the pocket of my pants or coat that I'd been wearing the other night when I went out to the bar and had taken it out of my wallet so that it would be at hand for the bartender to check. I called Katie and asked her to check in my shoulder bag that I'd left in her office - I figured it must surely be there.

At this point it was getting later in the day so I went next door to get some sandwiches to take back with me so that Katie and I could have lunch before my museum adventure would finally commence. I pulled out my wallet and the woman at the register commented on it - the back has a little change pouch that folds out in kind of a cool spiral accordion motion. The lady who had made the sandwiches also looked over and had a rather curious look on her face, and when the first woman asked where I'd gotten it I said "Burkina Faso". I usually follow that up with the explanation of "it's a small country in western Africa" but before I could, the second woman jumped back and exclaimed - "I'm from Burkina Faso!". Small world moment :D We happily chattered away in French, she's from a town very close to the big city where I purchased the wallet, she's been in the US for 19 years and I was just dying to hear the story of how she ended up in Arlington VA of all places. She came around the counter and gave me a big hug, and we both went our separate ways smiling and in a much better mood.

It was nice to have a happy buffer because when I got back to Katie's office, it was evident that my drivers license was nowhere to be found. I finally texted my mother asking for advice on the next step - was it hard to get a replacement? She asked if I had checked in my car, and I replied that I'd just very thoroughly cleaned out my car the day before and most definitely would have noticed it if it had been in there. I was too concerned to just leave it and go museum hopping, so I spent the next few hours calling the bar that I'd visited, tracking down the parking garage where I'd parked and asking if they'd seen it, and looking up the procedure for ordering a new one. Katie and I got to chatting and I decided to stop worrying about getting downtown and to enjoy spending unexpected extra time with a friend - I was going to order a new license but decided to wait until I got back to the house for one last ditch check of my laundry bag.

Katie and I met up with Toph at their apartment and ordered a pizza, then they invited their friend Robert over and we all happily talked the night away (and played with the cat, who is friendly as all get out and loves any and all attention). Much fun was had by all - Robert is a fantastic guy, and it made me realize that I should try and bring groups of friends together like that when I get back to town, just to enjoy each other's company on a random week night. It was a great way to spend my last night in town with such amazing people.

I drove back to the Browns and got another text from my mother asking if my license was in my car. Out of sheer stubbornness, I finally decided that *maybe* it had fallen out of my pocket that night we'd driven home from the bar and *maybe* I should do one last check under my seat to make absolute sure that it wasn't there (even though I'd just cleaned out the car and I was certain that it wasn't there). I think you can guess what happened next. Thanks, Mom!