Lost and found

Yesterday I went up to town to do some shopping and was feeling a bit under par; had a short snooze in the car at one stage, had a coffee and a bit of lunch at my favourite cafe (it's retro and kitsch and all the things that make one feel right at home - mismatched furniture - everything just perfectly imperfect) then dawdled home. When I got home I discovered that I had an earring missing. Not just any earring but one of my favourites; gold ones that cost me $119 some few years ago. It was a huge extravagance at the time but I found that I could only wear gold without getting upset ears and when I got my ears re-pierced I bought them to celebrate. I only have three pairs of earrings; the other two pairs were a lot less expensive. Have you noticed that you always lose the best things! Aaarrgghhh!

Well, I was really disappointed. I retraced my tracks mentally and realised that I had been in nearly every shop in town (not quite but I'd whizzed about and it would be difficult to locate the lost earring if it had somehow been knocked off and dropped along the way). David remembered that I'd had a nap in the car while he was doing some bits n pieces so he went outside to look in the car for it. He came back inside absolutely jubilant! Had he found the earring? No. He had found the lost key for his car. It had been missing for about four months he told me. He was rapt. It was worth $375!! Crazy, the cost of keys for newer cars. I remember getting new keys cut for six dollars. Gone are the days! So, he was happy and I was happy for him but still feeling lopsided with my one earring. Well I'd put another in the other side but I didn't like being mismatched. Mismatched furniture is comfy and welcoming and fine but mismatched earrings - not so much.

A bit later on I popped into the loo and heard a tinkle other than the obvious one. That's funny I though to myself. I didn't have anything in my pockets - I'd checked when I was looking for the earring. Well, I'll be darned, the tinkle was the lost earring bouncing on the hard ceramic floor. I don't know where it had been. I'd patted myself down and checked pockets as soon as I realised it was missing. I did go to the loo while I was in town, so I can only imagine that somehow it was knocked loose then and had lodged itself somewhere in my clothes. How lucky to find it. How lucky that it hadn't dropped out somewhere along the way unnoticed. Now I too was jubilant and rapt...and more evenly balanced once I had put the found earring back in its right place. It really is a lucky, lucky earring that one. I had lost it once before. The silliest thing that was. I remember dropping it in the car once when I was still living in Queensland. The saga of this earring spans several years...anyway, I dropped it and it bounced. All the doors of the car were closed so it had to be in the car somewhere but I couldn't find it. I finished up deciding that I'd somehow knocked it out of the car while I was looking for it. I was very sad.

I sort of forgot about it after a while, but I kept the remaining earring because I am an optimist and I guess deep down I always hoped it would show up again and also because it cost a lot and I was not going to part with it - no way! Well one day a beautiful friend drove the couple of hours up to visit me and to do a fantastic musical lesson with my little class of prep children. It was fabulous - she used puppets and had two classes (we invited the class next door to join us) of children utterly enthralled for the entire session. She brought her daughter along to assist and they both stayed at my flat with me that night. 

The next morning the daughter was asking for some money to go shopping with. I offered to pay her to clean my car for me. Cleaning the car is rarely done I am sorry to say. Pet hate. Avoid at all costs. Get someone else to do it if at all possible. Grab every opportunity. This was a grand opportunity for me and she would get some cash to splash! She did a great job and I was delighted to have a lovely clean, shiny car. When I was doing the 'inspection' I happened to have the passenger door open and glanced down. There was my missing earring. Luckily it hadn't disappeared into the vacuum cleaner! It was sitting safely in the little map holder that was molded into the door. What a find! Happy days! So that is the story of my lost and found (twice!) earring. Well, I don't know if it was the same one each time, but you know what I mean. 

Losing things is not fun. We agonise over what we did to misplace the item. We spend a lot of time mentally retracing steps. Car keys, door keys, glasses (that's an entertaining one - can't see a thing without them!), shoes, lipstick, bank statements, letters, cups of tea...I spend a lot of time looking for things most days. I think it's very common. I read somewhere recently that when you walk through a door your brain lets go of the thoughts it was thinking in the other room or space and prepares for taking in new information. Have you experienced that blank feeling? That what did I come in here for feeling? Well, that's why it happens, so you no longer have to feel like you're losing your mind...or your marbles...or whatever it is that keeps things rolling along for you. It's okay. You're just wired that way. 

Finding things is awesome but I am ashamed to say I once found a gorgeous ring with a large emerald cut smoky topaz and I kept it. I found it when I was a teenager and I was at a public swimming pool when we were in Queensland on holidays. I wore it for ages and liked it very much but always felt guilty about not handing it in to the office. Sorry to the person who lost it. It was very mean of me to keep it. One day, of course, I lost it. Never to be seen again. Fair enough really. I've found wallets a couple of times in my grown up years and have gone to great lengths to return them to their rightful owners, with the contents intact! Both times they were on the road. Do be careful about where your wallet or purse is when you're getting in the car. I'm sure they were both left on the roof of the car and dropped off unnoticed when they drove around a corner.

What have you lost or found? Love to hear your stories too!