I'm wondering how much time other people spend searching for stuff in their home.
And, when they do, how much other stuff do they find which they had not been concerned about for years?
At least a couple of hours of my day yesterday involved an off-and-on search for a box which used to sit in the corner near the dining room table.
At least it did ten years ago.
Where it has traveled from there and even if it still exists happens to be the current mystery that I would really like to solve.
Similar sagas happen from time to time around here. It used to be that I could come to a quick conclusion on lost stuff which suggested that said item probably got misplaced in the move.
Also, when our vinyl Quanset storage shed caved in during a heavy snow a few years ago, numerous items were destroyed and hauled off to the dump.
I have no real excuses or handy answers these days. We've been living in this house for 19 years, and nothing monumental has happened in the past ten years which would give me an easy out for the misplacement of that box.
The box had reunion materials from ten years ago. We have another class reunion coming up next month, and there are often times that I think that if I could just find that box, it might contain some materials which would be handy for the reunion.
Yesterday the mere mention from a friend that maybe I had a picture of a display from the last reunion set me into a searching frenzy.
This intense effort has begun to remind me of the seemingly endless search this past Christmas when I couldn't find my tree ornaments and lights.
I spent hours over the course of two December days trying to find the decorations. And, while doing so, images kept popping into my head of the precise spot where I knew I had stored the ornaments.
Even though I knew they weren't there, occasionally, I would still go back and look, just in case they had really been there staring me in the face.
For the first time in many years, I had not put the ornaments in an upstairs storage room which has a door about three feet high.
The archway into the storage room could easily inflict a concussion to those entering. Once inside, it is essential to remain bent over, lest you bump your head on the ceiling.
Add to that the fact that too much stuff had been stuffed into the room, always with the hurried notion of just getting it out of sight and forgetting about it. So much stuff had been stored in there that it was hard to get the door open.
With that in mind, after the Christmas of 2023, I put the ornaments in a large green garbage bag and placed them out in our shop right next to the work bench.
I knew the ornaments were there, but, unfortunately, nobody else in the family knew what valuables were in that bag, and, after all, it was a garbage bag.
After my extensive search of every cupboard, every cabinet and every nook and cranny of the house lasting over two days and knowing that a purge had ensued during the summer orchestrated by Annie and Bill, I sadly came to the conclusion that the Christmas ornaments had most likely gone to the dump and would never be seen by this family again.
That story has a happy ending. Upon learning of the loss, my sisters gave me a plastic tub filled with Mother's ornaments, which she had collected over several decades.
Sadly, my search yesterday has not yet come to a conclusion. This morning, as a last-ditch effort, I asked Bill, who organizes everything he owns in plastic tubs, if he had seen such a box. After all, it was not a garbage bag, so he would not have taken it to the dump.
No, he has not seen the box, he told me, unless it's under the bed.
I know better than to get my body down on the floor to see if the box is under the bed. It's too tall (the box) to squeeze under there AND even if I did discover that it was there, I would probably injure myself permanently, trying to get it out from under the bed.
This box of reunion stuff is one of those lost items that probably even St. Anthony can't find, but I haven't given up yet. And, since we haven't moved in 19 years, I'm sure it's in this house somewhere.
Actually, it's not a life and death matter to find the box, but the urge to lay eyes on it at this point, after all this searching, intensifies my need to find it.
More than likely, it will appear in plain sight AFTER THE REUNION.
Funny how lost items become so visible once you don't need them anymore.
So, that's my story for yesterday. I'm sticking with it and will probably do some more looking throughout the day. If St. Anthony cares to help me, I'll welcome his efforts.
Today, at 8 a.m. I'll be welcoming a distraction by listening to Radio State KRFK--88.5 FM. Willie will be participating in the half-hour live local news show. Always fun to see what quips he adds to the content.
Update: he's moderating the show.
If you have time, tune in.
And, the day will also see a few green beans, some other chores and maybe some time looking through the personal mementos and photos from yesteryear that I found during my search yesterday.
Happy Friday.
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