Sometimes I see my life as a series of one lost thing after another. Always looking for something I’ve misplaced, keys, credit cards, glasses, check book, id, cell phone. The other day I remember thinking that, aha! Here is a time that I am not in the process of looking or thinking about something I’ve lost. But it didn’t last long, a day or so after that I couldn’t find my sun glasses.


Here is what I’ve learned about lost things. Sometimes they are lost forever but more often they are lost for a period of time  - sometimes a short time, sometimes longer. I have had things show up years after i gave up looking for them, really. Ok maybe I exaggerate but I swear it was over a year.


Here is another thing I have learned about lost things, sometimes they are hiding, not lost. How many times have I found something in a place that I looked several times without seeing it. Other women will understand this one, how many times have we searched our purses over and over and over and then the 15th, 50th, 100th time it’s there.


There is a system to my lost and find. First it sits in my head for a while, not quite yet lost, just not found. Then I acknowledge it is misplaced or not where it should be, then I begin the search. I check my house (bedroom, living room, home office, usually where ever I remember seeing/using it last). Then a quick search of the car and work cubicle. Then a more detailed search at home, underneath things (couches, beds, papers), a more detailed search of the car, under seats, bagging up all the thrown away paper, coffee cups, other trash to make sure it hasn't been hidden and the same at work. If after all this, which can take up to a week or more, I haven’t found whatever I’ve lost, depending on how important the item is, I try to relax for a while, with the theory that when I stop looking it will turn up. Which by the way, has happened more often then not. At the point I actually acknowledge to myself that it is really truly lost, it will show up. Case in point, lost my debit card, waited and looked for weeks. Was at the bank drive up, actually asked the teller to give me another application for a new card because by god it must be really truly lost when in the corner of my eye I caught sight of something, right color, could it be, yes, in my car under some paper or other debris I had not thrown out yet, my debit card. And of course I can't tell you how many times I had checked the car already.  One timeI couldn't find another ID, waited for weeks just looking and "keeping an eye out" for it, looked all over the house. I had been out of town for business and called both the hotel where I stayed and the car rental company with no luck. Finally after a few weeks I went to the office manager to get a new ID, paid my $5 for the new ID, and later that same afternoon she came to me saying the original one had arrived in the mail.




And one of my most repeated statements is “I just had it" or"I just saw it" or "it was just here.”


And the sunglasses I mentioned at the beginning of this? Found them, on the shelf behind. Earlier that day I had acknowledged to myself after several days, ok, maybe they are really lost and sent around an email at work asking if anyone had seen them.