Losing It

Jack and I are always misplacing things; his most recent loss was his cell phone. I’m convinced it is somewhere in the apartment, but we’ve looked in pockets, under beds, and every other place we could imagine. My most recent loss was a bright orange recyclable bag one keeps in one’s purse or pocket in the spirit of being “green.” Jack bought me two of them, and he chose the bright orange thinking that would make them very easy to see in the depths of a purse. One of them is giving off its bright orange gleam on some floor somewhere. We have probably always lost or misplaced things, but when you reach “a certain age”, the first thought that pops into your mind is,”Is this the beginning of the end? Am I “losing” it?

Today was another example. We needed to help out a daughter and the grandchildren. We know she gave us a key on one of those foam wristbands. I could picture it very clearly – it was a daffodil yellow. Naturally, it would be in the drawer where we keep the spare car key and apartment keys. It wasn’t. Jack didn’t have it in any of the places where he puts things. I thought that it would have been clever to have put it into the file folder with her name on it, but I knew I hadn’t done that. I stood in the living room and looked around. I spotted an antique secretary that has two small drawers just above the pull-out writing board. Thinking that it was a long shot, I moved aside the objets d’art that were blocking the drawers. Voila! The key ring and key. I have no recollection of putting it there, but I was overjoyed to find it. Now the job will be to find a really logical place to put it. Wish me luck.