March 16th: Today is lost and found day. I am a champion loser. My keys are the bane of my existence. I know all the tricks, but they still never seem to be where I am certain I left them. Joe, who had the annoying habit of never losing anything himself, was a champion finder. It always annoyed me that the first place he always looked was the garbage.
One fateful day I thought that I put my keys beside the whipped cream carton in the fridge because I wanted to be sure not to forget the whipped cream that I intended to bring to a pot luck to serve with the dessert. This was a trick my mother taught me, and it worked– I immediately remembered the whipped cream when it was time to leave for the pot luck and I needed my keys. Unfortunately, my keys were not actually beside the carton of whipped cream. Joe hunted, I hunted, Joe swore; he didn’t even try to understand why my keys would have been in the refrigerator in the first place. I frantically dumped my purse out while Joe dug through the garbage. Finally, in a fit of exasperation he threw open the freezer. There were my keys, sitting proudly on a carton of ice cream. WELL! It could happen to anyone and as I told Joe later, I did remember the whip cream.
One afternoon, I picked Cole up from school wearing sunglasses that I thought were mine. While there I stopped to visit with another parent. After staring at me for a minute she asked, ”Katybeth, are you sure those are your sunglasses?” I took them off to look at them and discovered to my surprise that they were not– they were her sunglasses which she thought she had misplaced several weeks earlier. That was the longest I have ever managed to hang on to a pair of sunglasses. I told her she was lucky I still had them and promptly handed them over.
One of my favorite lost and found resources is to call upon St. Anthony my favorite saint. I promise St. Anthony a good deed and say, “Tony, Tony, turn around. Something’s lost and must be found!” Try calling on St Anthony the next time you lose something. Ever since the Catholic Church denounced saints he has been willing to cross denominations and try to help out with most requests.
Do you lose things a lot or are you one of those almost annoying people that manages to always know where your keys are—and when they aren’t there you immediately turn to your significant other or child and ask, “Where did you put my…..”
Do share! Odd loves company!
I can SO relate! I spend an astonishing amount of time looking for things. The very hardest to find are the things that I’ve moved from where they were to a SAFER place. I might as well kiss them goodbye. I can remember the first place I had them, but not the safer one. (sigh)
Long ago a Catholic friend introduced me to St. Anthony–she was calling on him to find her a parking space. Now THAT’S St. Anthony Abuse!
Those safe places are killer—I have a hard enough time finding what I don’t hide!
But did your friend find a parking spot? Joe always told me the trick to finding parking spots was all about karma….I’m sure that was not true.
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Yes, yes, and yes! I do lose a great deal! I am a good finder as well and have no problem going through the garbage on a weekly basis!
My daughter at three told Cardinal Bernadin visiting Old St. Patrick’s preschool ” she knows something her teacher loses all the time” ! This was a sweet little visit coordinated by the archdiocese and the school to demonstrate the successful little pre-school they recently opened for the working families in the loop. The cute little Notre Dame graduate was demonstrating how to teach the little ones how to retrieve their lost items. The event seemed harmless enough and the teacher used your mom’s approach to finding things. Well I’m told my kid was waiving her hand wildly so that the late Cardinal would call on her because she wanted to share her secret as to what the cute little teacher lost all the time. Finally she was called upon and she annonced ” Miss XXX loses her temper all the time and then she yells at us like this XXX! The young teacher was mortified and cried her eyes out! We were called to the school during a busy work day and I was terrified she was bite by a kid with aids or something terrible! We were told our little angel was ” mean spirited and if we didn’t take steps to control her that she would be uneducable! Well Jim and I laughed ourselves sick! We could not control ourselves. I have never forgotten the importance of retrieving lost items or lost tempers! BTW they were wrong, she is a second year law student at a prestigious law school!
Cute story! The lost temper especially had to find sometimes.
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Hi. My name is Carla and I am a loser. I lose things all the time. Just like you Katybeth, my keys were the bane of my existence. Now it is my phone. Shoes are another problem. I have about 5 pair of white tennis shoes. I leave them all over the house. Living room, check. bathroom, check. Bedroom, check. Kitchen, check. However, the other day I couldn’t find two that matched. I actually left the house with two shoes from different pairs. I wouldn’t have done it but I was already ten minutes late to a meeting I was supposed to be running. I do not usually ask my spouse (since the eye rolling and tsk-tsking is humiliating) but I do occasionally call my Mom and ask her where she thinks I might have left whatever I am missing. She always has an answer and it is usually right.
Perhaps its in the gene’s? Good thing all your tennis shoes are white..or I’m sure people would talk! The phone…I have lost it while I am talking on it.
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My name is Wendy, and I am the family “Finder.” I am forever searching for stuff they’ve lost…I put my stuff in the same place every time, and it’s still there when I need it…imagine that!
Jim is the worst…every day he loses something: his keys, his Blackberry, his insulin pen, you name it! AARGH!
Wendy
Wendy–stop AARGHING—there is money to be made! Finders are in short supply…Losers are abundant….see my point??
Please! Tell me!! Whats your secret to putting your stuff in the same spot and having it still be there when you need it?
Hello everyone, My name is Kathy and I am a loser from way back. I am organized but simple things like keys, work name tags, and such are all getting lost on a regular bases. I put this stuff in the same place (usually) but if I dont, I just dont remember where I put them. I lost my car today because I didnt park in the same place I usually do for work. It took me a good 5 minutes to remember where I hurriedly hopped out to catch the work bus so I wouldnt be late. 😯
Oh, I know all about losing my car in the parking lot. When Cole was little he told me to just remember that I parked by the big red truck. MMM…He may have inherited this gene from me.
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