I am the finder of lost things. More accurately I'm the looker but not always the finder of lost things. It boils down to the same thing: I spend most of my time searching for misplaced stuff.
It's usually time sensitive material that I'm looking for-- household objects that can be taken to school and used to represent textures for a feeling strip Carmen is making that morning. A mitten that Ben HAS to have and that is way better than the other six complete pairs sitting on the bench ready to go--all at 3 minutes until we have to be out the door. A tiny accessory for a tiny toy that requires a microscope and tweezers just to locate and reattach.
I am the one searching the pantry for granola bars while packing lunches with one hand and serving breakfast with the other. More often than not I find myself elbow deep in fridge crispers looking for the cheese sticks that I could have sworn were in there and shuffling through recipe boxes for the muffin recipe I need to get the soccer snacks ready to go for 6.
I am the one sifting through laundry to find the Boston Bruins t-shirt Ben needs to wear to cheer the team on during the playoffs. I am the finder of missing library books that are four days late as it is and of matching socks -- although I still have seven or eight similar but not quite the same socks sitting on my dryer waiting for mates.
I think of what I would get accomplished if mine weren't the only eyes that could locate the peanut butter on the shelf or the Transformer's dismembered arm or the dog's leash or the pink hoodie. I think of all the free time I'd enjoy if I didn't spend my days crawling under couches in pursuit of Nerf bullets or scouring the floor for lost game pieces or digging through toy bins for a favourite stuffed animal.
Maybe the kids will grow up and stop losing things, or at least start finding them on their own. Then I'll take up a hobby, learn another language maybe, write a book, read a newspaper cover to cover in one sitting. Until then, I guess I'll just keep my eyes peeled. I have stuff to find.
