you all are so great. thank you for all the suggestions. we are going to be going through our boxes of books again this evening.
he told me that the last time he saw the document, he reminded himself that it was important and then moved it to whoknowswhere!

(so yeah- he absolutely had it to do something with, then neglected to complete that mission!)
we've checked the file where it should have been because of documents of the same nature, but that's not where he moved it to.
i'll also have him call his mom.
again, thank you all so much. i will keep you posted! keep the suggestions coming.
Abby