I'm Still Tickin'

Today was a weird day.

I went to the post office to apply for a passport. I'm not really sure if I'm going anywhere yet (especially with my bank account in it's current dismal state), but my New Year's resolution this year was to start planning to go somewhere and getting a passport is the first step. As I walked into the back office, there was a woman shouting at the employee behind the desk. I had to appreciate the irony of a patron "going postal" on a postal worker. Another employee in the office waved me over and helped me out with the application. I turned in the check for one hundred bucks, two photos of myself (which I took at Walgreens last week when I was having a rare good hair day) and my birth certificate. The employee said it would take about six weeks to process and that I would receive my birth certificate in the same package as my passport. At this point, the angry patron was still ranting about her lost package and as I stood up to leave, the employee reassured me that they wouldn't lose my birth certificate in the mail.

An hour later I arrived at the library for my shift and was immediately greeted by a hug from a fellow shelver. This isn't normally how we greet each other so I was a bit taken aback. She explained to me that she thought I died. I think my response to this was "nope, still here". Apparently she was a bit confused because another staff member of the library passed away over the weekend after a long struggle with cancer. Her name was also Becca. The employee who gave me the hug never met her because Becca quit working at the library to start chemo. So when someone told her that Becca died on Sunday, she assumed it was me. We shared an awkward laugh after that and commenced shelving the many books on our sorting shelves.

Now I wonder how many others think I'm dead right now. And I hope I don't have to prove my existence within the next 6 weeks because my birth certificate is out of my possession.