When dear daughter was small, one of the most mind-numbing tasks was the constant fetching of errant ‘stuff’. She was an only, so as a party-of-one, parent-wise, I felt terrible when I complained. I don’t know NOW – nor did I THEN – how to magically locate stuff.
I am not blessed with GPS-like tracking skills. Socks? Shoes? Lost Bunnies? Dolls? Trucks? Pokemon whatevers? Nope. Unless I tripped over them and hurt the bottom of my bare foot, I generally had no clue.
A parent’s favorite reply to ‘where’s (fill in the blank)?’
I dunno – wherever YOU left it.
To be honest, though, this is bigger than an overdue parenting rant. Our girl is way grown at this point, so why the sharing now? It seems the Hubster has the same trust in me…that I can close my eyes, put a finger to my temple, thoughtfully, and mull….and I’ll know wherever said-missing-in-action item might be holing up. Nope. Still don’t know.
I think pandemic togetherness pushed me over the edge. He’s relaxed and easy going. Me? Wound. Too. Tight. Don’t bug me with a question about where your favorite screwdriver is. Don’t you have 99 of them? 😊
And yet, I get why both dear daughter and Hubster have faith in me. I am the Patron Saint of Lost Stuff. I did it to myself. See, I’m the one who’s in perpetual pick up mode in these parts. Yessiree. That’s me.
If I’m a-pickin’ it up, I might as well be a-puttin’ it down — where it belongs. (I don’t know where the Western twang and sheriff swagger is coming from. Sorry about that. My mind is wandering and I’m having an out of body moment as I see myself roaming through the tumbleweeds, err, piles in the house like I’m leading a search party, complete with a badge and ten-gallon hat. I think I need sleep.)
So what? I do have a point here. Getting to it! 😉 Even when I’ve lost track of something and I’m in search mode, there’s a tidbit of wisdom from my papa that rolls in. It’s a surefire (wink!) way of calming me down when I’m rootin-tootin’ mad.
I have learned. I am unlikely to locate anything when I’m steamed. The more Zen, the better and this phrase helps, self-talk style:
‘I don’t know where (fill in the blank) is but what I DO know is everything is somewhere.’
And with that bit of wisdom, I plop down and sit-a-spell 😉 until inspiration strikes and I pick up the trail. I don’t want to say it works every time…but it kinda does.
And that’s that. A Tuesday rant, and a tip of the hat, from me to you, partner.
-Vicki 😉
Victoria Ponders 
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