Entering a book store there are often shelves, tables and maybe even stacks of puzzles. Puzzles in book form, in jigsaw form, in tactile Rubik's cube like form, Pick-Up-Sticks and Board games of strategy and word. I’ve played many of them but definitely not all of them. But there is one puzzle that I never anticipated that I would have to play - no playing, no pensions! So this is a Public Service announcement to anyone - which is most of us - applying at anytime of their life for a earned, paid for pension. Keep any document with dates all the way back to when you were born. I’m not kidding! Any kind of life change, including a change of province, country, marital or employment status.
When managing money, it is always wise to get clear identification from any person asking for a portion of that money. However, how many of us save every scrap of paper, and in an organized fashion, that has come into our hands over our life times. I had the good fortune to work in Texas for eleven years from 1988 to 1999. So, in the last several weeks I have been locating documentation that will prove that to said pension organizations.
Beginning towards the end of May this year, I started on the trail of all the required details. In previous blog posts, I wrote about a Paper Life and Personal Archaeology. My files were strewn on every available service, except my sofa and my bed. As the weeks have gone on, these unorganized piles of folders and papers, while colourful, had become so much overwhelming clutter. This week, I have stacked up the folders. I’ve made three specific folders for each of the pensions I am applying for, including a separate folder for other information necessary to all three. My dining room table is clear - almost. Discovery of clarity out of chaos has rewarded me with a calm not felt for a long time.
When the puzzle pieces are all back in the box, or in this case documents in labelled folders, then this great, exhaustive puzzle becomes manageable. One document at a time, one phone call a day (or maybe three) and keep all the pieces in the box. When one critical piece is missing, and for any good puzzle, that will happen, find another one that fits - thus the phone calls. To Kelowna, to Lubbock, Tx, to Regina and within Victoria. So keep all your documents and file them away where you can find them: dates and places and status kept safely as part of one’s ID documentation. If you aren’t a fan of puzzles this is really important for you!
“Not every puzzle is intended to be solved. Some are in place
to test your limits. Others are, in fact, not puzzles at all…..”
~ Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration
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