Saturday, October 29, 2011

Things I've Lost

That title to this post might make you think I'm going to write about lost people, relationships, etc. Nothing so deep and dark. I'm talking about actual things. This morning I decided to wear my favorite soft gray short-sleeved shirt over jeans and under a bright pink fleece jacket. I haven't worn that shirt in a while, and do you think I could find it? I went through the closet three times, hanger by hanger, and I have no idea where it is. I tell myself it will show up, but I'd rather have it now than later. Last fall, when it was time for sweats, I looked for my standby gray flannel hooded jacked, with accents of dark stitching, that Jamie and Mel gave me--it was great to throw on over a T-shirt and flannel pants and stay warm while I worked at home. Sometimes I even ventured out of the house in it. But it has disappeared. I have a sneaky feeling that if I emptied the closet where it should be--hanging above a collection of odd blankets used when there's a full house--I might find it. Or have I done that?
When Jacob was a toddler, my hishi (New Mexico fetish images) necklace went missing. Jordan was convinced Jacob had seen it on the dresser, picked it up and threw it in the recycleable bin. After a party Christian kindly emptied that bin but without looking at the contents--who would? I was sure it was still in the house, and periodically I looked for it. One day I found it--way up under my bead. In the meantime, I'd acquired two more hishi strands, so now I had three and  they looked great together. As of the last month, I can't find them.
Then there was the time I washed four pillowcases and pulled three out of the dryer. Checked the washer, the dryer, the spaces in between--nada. Friends of mine announced that it is impossible to simply lose a pillow case, and they came to investigate--and went away baffled. To this day they occasionally ask me about that pillow case, but it's been a couple of years now, and it still hasn't turned up. I've bought new linen.
Yesterday I went out to the guest apartment to begin to prepare for kids next weekend and "real" company the following. When I bought the blasted doublebunk beds, I bought really neat sheets and comforters for them--blue checked sheets, blue and yellow plaid comforters and shams. Now there is only one comforter. Colin and his family are the most frequent occupants of the apartment, and he assures me the comforter is out there. I looked again today--closet, under beds, under the futon pad--no comforter.
So here's what I'm missing that I'm upset about: one gray shirt, my hishi necklaces, my gray flannel jacket, and one comforter. It's not that they're things that would someone would filch--besides, I don't have that kind of friends. And they're not things that would interest Jacob, even if he was guilty at two of taking the hishi, and we don't know that. They're just random, unexplained, unexplainable disappearances. Worse than losing a sock in the dryer.
Elizabeth and Weldon maybe you better come back--I'll cook. Anyone out there psychic? I'll offer a dinner to anyone who finds any or all of these things.

2 comments:

Jennifer Johnson said...

If only we could clap and have the lost things beep at us. That would help soooo much in my house.

Jennifer Johnson said...

If only we could clap and have the things beep at us. That would help sooo much at my house.