Really...I did. Promise.

OH Savannah. She kills me. And the truth of it is, she is so much like me it’s frightening.

She keeps forgetting to bring her homework home. She’ll swear up and down she put it in her backpack and when she finds it in her desk the next day at school she’ll go…“oh yeah right…I remember now, I left it here.”

Reminds me of the time Bill asked me, literally for months, if I had gotten my birth certificate since I would need it to get out of Grand Cayman Islands - our honeymoon destination.

I repeatedly assured him I would get it. I was very confident in fact. I just needed to tell my dad to get it out of the bank safety deposit box. How hard could that be?!?

Undoubtedly it was too much for me. Because, I kid you not, as we were driving away from our wedding reception…as we were embarking on our new life, full of optimism and exuberance, hope and love, Bill turned to me and said….“you got your birth certificate didn’t you?”

Have I mentioned before that I’m not detail oriented?

I mean the wedding was detailed enough but to remember the birth certificate on top of all that? And let me tell you…my “no” response did not go over well. Especially seeing how it was a Saturday night and our flight to the Caymans left on Sunday and there was no possibility of the bank opening for my forgetfulness. Great way to start a marriage, huh!

I’m almost surprised Bill didn’t ask for an annulment. And had he known he was signing up for many years of this type of behavior he may have considered it. But he didn’t (and I am VERY glad).

We made it into the Caymans, no problem, but they told us getting out would be next to impossible without a birth certificate. And quite frankly I had no problem extending our honeymoon to like forever in the Cayman Islands so I wasn’t that worried. Bill however probably got an ulcer.

And sure enough, on departure day…I was detained. Bill was “free to board the aircraft” and I, the bride of exactly one week, was told to go to a holding room. It was a no go. No birth certificate, no flight home.

I decided, one last time, to look in my purse….as if the birth certificate would magically appear….and it did not. But as I was laying out all the contents of my purse on the desk (I still can’t believe I somehow thought it would miraculously show up), I laid my Congressional ID badge on the table. I honestly didn’t even know it was in my purse. I had quit my job in DC about a month before but my security clearance had not expired. And I may not have had a birth certificate, but once he saw that ID with that clearance, I was free to fly the friendly skies.

And just as they announced…“last call”… I popped out of detention and told Bill we could go begin our lives…. together. He STILL shakes his head to this day that it just all somehow worked out.

So back to Savannah and her failure to remember to bring home her homework. I’ve called parents to get her spelling words before, but mostly I just let her get a mark because I’ve heard that suffering the consequences is the way they learn.

I do know it’s making an impression although the problem is not entirely resolved.

Today she was SO proud of herself. I asked her about her homework assignment, and with all the gusto and charisma of a polished politician, she began announcing….“OH YES Mama. I brought home my blue folder. I have it in my backpack. I’ll get it right now. I did remember. I brought it home.”

And then as she walked down the hall to get it, I heard her mumble…..“hopefully.”

And I wondered if somehow I’d cloned myself.