I Lost my Wedding Band….Where can it be?

Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash

Confession time. I tend to lose things. Like ALOT. It’s not really that they’re “LOST”, it’s more that I KNOW, I mean I. KNOW. I put something down somewhere, and just over time I have forgotten where I put it.

It’s like your home filing cabinet. Where do you put your gas bill? Under “HOME?” Under the word “GAS”? Under the name of your local “GAS” company? That’s exactly this. I know I put it somewhere. Now, where could it be? Retracing steps sometimes works, because of course, it was put away intentionally so I wouldn’t forget it somewhere else. A lot of good that did. And what did I keep on doing? Searching the SAME place over, and over again — because that’s what smart people do, right? Repeat and repeat (without a change) hopeful for a different outcome.

Super emotionally charged, super anxious, and super nervous that it won’t ever show up, what do I do? I go ask my friends, “Have you ever lost a piece of jewelry? Where’d you end up finding it?” Ready for these great stories?

About 20 years ago, my friend Lisa (no relation to me, of course) had received a ring from her grandmother, it was too large. But because it was so sentimental she wore it anyway, with tape around it. One day, while driving, her windshield fogged up. She took out a rag to wipe it down and accidentally pulled the ring off and the ring fell into the ducts in the car! With each turn of a corner, she could hear it sliding around. It took a mechanic about 10 minutes (and of course a few hundred dollars) but it was safely retrieved. My first stop — the jeweler to get it sized! (oh ya, that was about me!!)

But here’s a great story — not mine this time! When my friend Julie was engaged she lost her stunning diamond ring. It was winter and was lightly snowing outside. She put on her winter gloves and made the trek to her car after a shopping excursion. She removed her gloves to start her car and didn’t realize that her ring had slipped off until she arrived home 15 minutes later. She searched every inch of the car. When she couldn’t find it, she realized that it must be in the snowbank beside her car. In a panic, she made her way back to the mall. The snowplows had made large mountains of snow near each curb to accommodate enough parking spots. She went back to her parking spot but was frantic. How would she find it with the snow? Calling her fiancé in a panic, he had a great suggestion: Back the car up toward the mound and let the warmth from the exhaust melt the snow. When mall security saw what she was doing, they pitched in adding some more heat to the mix. About an hour later, with a big puddle forming in the lot, Julie’s ring was found!

Places To Look

So when I lost my keys a few weeks ago, I decided that panic would only make me look in the same place over, and over again. So I decided to be a bit more strategic. I began by deep breathing — because the more I got anxious, the less my brain was functioning logically. Then, I methodically checked these places:

1. Behind my dresser
2. Under my bed
3. Inside the vacuum bag
4. In the fridge
5. In the glove box
6. In my gym bag? (I haven’t been to the gym in months)
7. In the dryer — could it be in the dryer filter? Or my washing machine? In my laundry basket?
8. In a flowerpot
9. In my guitar case (haven’t practiced in years!)
10. In my toolbox

No luck. So here were a few more….

1. In my mailbox
2. Under all my couches (could it have fallen behind the cushions?)
3. In my “junk” drawer
4. In my shoe bin
5. Although I don’t have a pet, I was prepared to look through dog poop if necessary!!

And then, I had a revelation, I KNEW that my keys were in my backpack. In fact, I had used the backpack to take some extra supplies to work the day before, but tossed the pack into a corner once it was emptied. Of course, I had already dumped out the pack 3000 times, to no avail, but now, with a calmer and cooler head, I did it again.

This time, I discovered a tear in the lining, and guess what. The keyring was there.

The earth now can continue to rotate. My fingers now have feeling and my heart rate is getting back to normal.

Photo by Jozsef Hocza on Unsplash

Now…where did I put the remote for the TV?