Lost and Found July 29, 2012
Posted by nrhatch in Happiness, Humor, Life Balance.comments closed
Living with mom reminds me of an endless game of “Hide the Thimble” . . . with all manner of sundry objects ready, willing, and able to step in as understudy for the lead role.
Sunrise to sunset, we play “hide and seek” with her glasses, her book, her walker, her cane, her hearing aids, her coffee cup, her cigarettes, her pocketbook, her lighter, her photo albums, her pillbox, her whatchmacallit, etc.
It’s not that objects disappear from plain view or vanish into thin air, it’s that mom never chooses to look for them in the right place at the right time.
Mom has never been good at games.
If her pocketbook is hanging around her neck, she looks for it in her room.
If her coffee cup is sitting on the table, she wanders into the kitchen to see if it’s turned up there.
If her walker is at the back door, she searches for it by my computer.
BFF and I compensate for her incompetence with chattels by locating lost, misplaced, and “hidden” objects with a minimum of bother and fuss.
“Found it!”
“Oh, you did. Where was it?”
“Right where you left it, mom.”
Yesterday, it was my turn. I lost something of great value. Priceless, really. The most valuable possession I own for coping with life’s many, myriad, constant, and sundry challenges.
I lost my sense of humor, not for long, but for long enough for life to turn on its head with nothing but dark dismal cold stark gray on the horizon.
Without a sense of humor to temper my temper . . . my patience with HER began to wear thin. Everything SHE did or said chafed.
Instead of smiling at her inane and/or ironic comments, I wanted her to disappear. To step in as understudy for the Thimble. To be lost, and never found.
I have since recovered my sense of humor (and with it my equilibrium). All our recent practice with “Hide the Thimble” and “Lost and Found” paid off:
“Found it!”
“Oh, you did. Where was it?”
“Right where I left it, mom.”
Aah . . . that’s better!
Spirit Lights The Way 