Warning: angst ahead!
In early December I mailed my property tax to the Parish (=County). I mailed it in the yellow, pre-addressed envelope provided, and at our main post office. I have been waiting ever since for the check to clear, but it never did.
I decided today that it is lost in the mail, and simultaneously discovered that my property tax is overdue. "OMG, OMG", I thought, "will my credit be ruined? Will my house be taken away from me in the middle of the night? Will stormtroopers appear at my front door to take me off in chains to a dungeon somewhere?" Oh, woe was me. Unless you are Catholic or have a Calvinist upbringing like me, you probably can barely imagine the degree of guilt and fear that something like this can inflict.
Since there is apparently nobody one can just go SEE in person about problems like this, I called the phone number given for the property tax office. After navigating a nearly-endless voicemail, finally I got to the point where it said, "Press 5 to speak to somebody" or some such thing.
I pressed 5. After 30 rings, I gave up and paid it online. Tomorrow I will go and cancel the check. I haven't cancelled a check in 40-50 years, so I hope that it is still possible to do it.
But anyway, problem solved, it is paid, and no more guilt and fear interfering with my retirement bliss.