Why you should keep important documents in a safe place

So, my purse has been missing for a week or two. It was a nice purse, too. In it was my license and my social security card (you know, the one that says don't carry in your purse? That one? Yeah.). I applied to get my kids on CHIP for health insurance since Ed is unemployed and we have no health insurance and we have a Henry, and they needed birth certificates, ID, and social security cards for the whole family.

Oh my good lord.

I am NOT organized AT ALL. So I tracked down the kids info (they've only been on the planet for a few years - I haven't had a chance to lose their stuff yet). Ed had his ID and social security card, but no birth certificate. OH, and he changed his name in 1997 and didn't have THAT piece of paper, either. So he spent the day on Friday going from the courthouse in Wilmington to the birth certificate place in Newark, back to the courthouse, and had to go back to both this AM. Got all of his info.

Then there's me. My wallet and purse have been MIA for a couple of weeks now. I kept thinking they'd show up.... yeah. They haven't. Have you EVER tried to get any type of ID when you don't have any? It's downright impossible. The DMV wanted my social security card, social security wanted my driver's license, the CHIP people wanted my birth certificate and proof of my citizenship (which, according to them, my social security card is NOT. According to social security, it IS. And my consular paper? That would be MIA.) So we got Keith on the bus, piled the little guys into the car, and headed off to Media to the DMV. I had spent the morning on the phone, and they said that I could get my license if I bring in my vehicle registration. I didn't know that a vehicle registration was any type of ID, but whatever. I get there, get in line, and wait. 45 minutes later, I'm at the front of the line, and the guy comes out and says that they can't give out licenses because the system is down. I ask if I can get just a photo ID and deal with the license later, and he says to wait for the girl at the window. Somehow she manages to get me a duplicate of my license. I don't have a clue how it worked, because the systems were still down, but I took it. Then we went to Chester to the Social Security office. Note: DON'T go to Social Security on the day after a holiday. One hour later, I got a printout with my social security number on it, and a note saying that yes, it was proof that I am a citizen, because I had proved my citizenship to them 15 years ago (I was born in France). THEN we went to the CHIP people. Somehow I managed to skip the whole long line. I wasn't going to question that, either. So I unload my pile of birth certificates, social security cards, proof of income, you name it on the lady. I told her that I didn't have my birth certificate, I had to deal with the French Embassy to get it, and I had applied for a new consular form but I wasn't going to have it by tomorrow (when they need it). She said someone would get back to me. So I get home. I fill out the paperwork for the State Department and it's ready to mail in the AM. Then I called the Embassy. I speak French, but it's a bit rusty. And, unfortunately, they told me I would have to call the town hall in the town I was born in to get a copy of my birth certificate. I called my dad to see if he would call them because his French is better than mine, and he thought that he might have a copy of my birth certificate and my consular paperwork. He called me back and he had the original of my birth certificate and a copy of my consular paper. CHIP only needs a copy, so I'm in luck!

Do you think this is a sign I should get organized?!?