Cardless

When I got my new debit card in 2006, August 2012 seemed ages away. When I tried to use that same card to pay for a membership at the Children’s Museum on Labor Day, I was jarred by the fact that August 2012 had already come... and gone.


A paperwork snafu involving the United States Postal Service and our bank caused me to be cardless for an entire week. We moved in July, and my husband dutifully informed all of our important places of business of our address change. Except the bank wanted to be extra certain that my identity was secure, and so when he told them his address had changed, they assumed mine hadn’t, since I, myself, wasn’t letting them know that anything in my life had altered.


They dutifully sent me a new card in the mail sometime in the end of July. Instead of being rerouted to my new address, it went to the Utopia for Lost Correspondence, where embarrassingly lost invitations go to frolic. I never got it.


Standing with my mouth hanging open, staring at the Museum volunteer, I took a split second to reflect on how much my spending habits have changed in the last six years. I used to make fun of my husband for never having cash on hand. I always did, because I was a server at a restaurant. I could come home from work, dump a pile of cash on the floor, and roll around in it if I wanted to. The pile would probably have been made up of more ones than twenties, but the point was I always had a lot of cash; he never did, and it amused me that he couldn’t even get a soda out of a vending machine at school, whereas I could probably buy the machine with the pile of bills in my pocket.


The checkbook in my purse currently has one check left in it. There aren’t many things we need the checkbook for, not many things we can even use it for anymore anyway, but it seems like the things we do need it for can’t be paid for any other way.


I didn’t realize my life had changed so much that I am now contemptuous of establishments that only accept cash. I also missed the fact that my life has changed to the extent that I never carry any.


I had to go into a local branch of my bank to fix the mistake. I had to prove who I was and that my address had changed, and the banker ordered me a new card. For a week, I didn’t buy anything. No groceries, no books, no fun things for my kids. I laid my hands on a new debit card on Monday, and immediately celebrated by buying a present for my nephew. September 2015 doesn’t seem like that far away, but I’m determined to keep a closer eye on the expiration date of my card this time.


Because I never want to be cardless again.