Lost and Found

My husband couldn't find his shoes. He looked around for them in all the usual places, and then he came to me for help. I came up empty. Then the inevitable question was asked.

"Did you throw them away, Holly?"

Sigh.

I am so tired of that question. My husband and my kids ask it regularly, usually when they have misplaced something they need. Now, to be fair, I have thrown things away from time to time. I even gave a most beloved sweatshirt away, which you can read about here.

But most of the time, the missing item is simply lost.

We couldn't find Brian's shoes for several weeks. I started wondering if I really had thrown them away? Why would I do that? It just didn't make sense. Regardless, I kept thinking about those shoes, hoping that I would be able to remember where they were. One April morning, my son walked into my bedroom, laughing. He was holding the missing shoes in his hands! They had been in his closet the whole time.

I knew I didn't throw those shoes away, just like I knew I didn't throw away a $400 check twenty-two years ago, either.

We were newly married. Brian had been working at a special needs home in Utah, and his last check from them was $400. Young and poor, that money was invaluable to us. Sadly, we lost the check before we could deposit it in our bank account. We searched everywhere for it. The money was gone.

"Did you throw it away, Holly?"

I didn't know, to be perfectly honest. I threw away a lot of things...but money? I wouldn't throw away money! When I wasn't in school or working, I was looking for that lost paycheck. Our apartment was small, and I soon ran out of places to search. I didn't know what else to do. Months went by, and the check never turned up. Brian was convinced I had thrown it in the trash accidentally, and I was warming up to the idea. Paychecks don't just disappear. It had to have been me.

A year and a half later, we sat in church. Brian reached into the inner pocket of his suit to get a pen, and he pulled out a folded piece of paper. I watched as he unfolded his long-absent, never-forgotten, cause-of-many-fights, paycheck. His expression was one of utter shock and amazement, and possibly a hint of sheepishness. I, on the other hand, was about to be featured on "Snapped." I was going to kill him.

Remarkably, I didn't actually kill him, but only because he is so cute AND I happened to be in church at the time. Plus, I needed him to sign that check.

All these years later, I still bring up the check incident from time to time, when necessary. I find it to be a helpful reminder that many of our lost items just need to be found, not blamed on me. And despite my family's insistence that I am throwing away all the missing things in our house...I know the truth.

That's good enough for me.