Lost & found

I am the queen of losing stuff lately. I blame it on pregnancy brain, but really I'm just turning into a flake. Usually it's something fairly minor, like when I got to the lab yesterday and couldn't find the prescription from Gavin's pediatrician with orders for his stool cultures (don't ask). A quick phone call and a fax remedied the situation within minutes.

But misplacing important possessions, like my keys to the church, gets annoying. (Last time I did that, I found them dangling from they keyhole of the activities committee closet. Not good.) Happily, Friday was a day of finding things!

The first thing I found has a funny story behind it. When I was folding laundry Tuesday night, I found a round lapel-style pin that said "I am loved." I had never seen it before and just set it aside. Garry found it later and asked if I wanted it. I replied that no, I had no clue where it came from, so please just chuck it. He said that it came with the pearl earrings he gave me for Christmas. Taken aback, I said, "What pearl earrings?" He smiled and said, "The ones in your stocking...." I was confused. I hadn't found any pearl earrings in my stocking!

We had a little discussion, whereupon we discovered that somehow a little velvet bag with genuine pearl earrings had probably gone out with the Christmas trash. I was so sad! Garry had gotten the earrings for free during a jewelry store promotion, but I still felt awful about (1) overlooking them and therefore not appreciating the gesture on Christmas, and (2) inadvertently throwing away something valuable! We went so far as to check the stockings in the attic, but they were empty, so we wrote off the earrings as a loss.

Then, when I was ironing a pair of Garry's pants yesterday afternoon, I noticed a lump in the pocket. Fully expecting a wad of tissue, I reached in and instead discovered a little velvet bag! Inside were two freshly laundered pearl earrings! Apparently they didn't make it to the stocking after all. I called Garry, we had a good laugh, and I wore the pearls with my jeans and t-shirt for the rest of the day.


Next, during my frustrated search for the above-mentioned prescription in the van, I discovered an envelope I intended to mail...in September. It was addressed to my missionary brother Ryan. It's a good thing we also communicate via email, because this particular letter included news of my pregnancy! I had to readdress and re-stamp the envelope, since Ryan is in Croatia now, rather than the Missionary Training Center in Utah. I included a sticky note with an explanation of the outdated news because I thought it might make him laugh.


We have a couch in the kitchen with felt pads on the feet so it won't scratch the wood floor. Tyler likes to push it around, and today he moved it several feet to one side so he could rescue a paper airplane that lost altitude and hid underneath it. He discovered all sorts of treasures under the couch, including the lid to our garbage can that has been missing for at least two months. Dirty though it may be, we're so glad to have it back!


Late this afternoon I realized I couldn't find the ride-on truck Gavin got for his birthday. It's kind of a large toy, but also a favorite, so its absence from the toy corner was obvious. When Gavin was grumpy, I searched every room of the house. Then the closets. And then, when I remembered we took it to playgroup at the church, I searched the van. It was nowhere to be found! I was positive we'd picked it up on our way out of the church, so I quizzed the boys. After a fruitless interrogation, in which I actually suspected Tyler of dumping the truck in a parking lot somewhere, I asked Garry to go check the church. He did -- and found the truck in the nursery. Seeing it in the front seat of his car when he got home made me very happy.


This last one was never lost, but I was absolutely delighted to find it in the mailbox today. A great big Thank You goes out to Granny, the woman of impeccable taste and uncanny ability to bring a smile to my face. She must have gone on a girly shopping spree as soon as she heard our news! Included in package was a teeny tiny sleeper with a big pink flower. Ah...girls. I think I'm excited.