Lost and Found

I am working on writing a book.  No, it's not a collection of blog posts. (hee hee) It's a topic that is a personal interest, and so I decided to collect all my thoughts on the subject in a coherent manner, in a single location.  Voila.  BOOK!   Who knows if it will ever be published, and right now, that is very much not the point.  

But a few weeks ago, I misplaced my notes.  Two whole notebooks full of ideas, brainstorming, half chapters, and random paragraphs....gone.  Seemingly disappeared into thin air.  If you knew how small my apartment was, you'd wonder how I could ever lose anything, but I seem to do it on an annoyingly frequent basis.
I searched wherever I thought might have been a good place to put them.
I searched wherever I thought wasn't really a good place, but that I might have, at some point, thought was a good place.
Then I resorted to searching places I was fairly certain they couldn't possibly be, but....who knows?
I even ultimately started moving furniture, wondering if somehow, maybe the notebooks had slid under the couch, or under a chair.  All without success.
Ultimately, I decided that I would have to wait to find them as we move into the new home on which we recently placed a contract. 

Then, this morning, I headed into my closet to get a pair of shoes and a purse that matches my outfit.  I adore purses and shoes, however, because of the limited space in my apartment, my walk-in-closet usually looks like a tornado has hit a very cute boutique.  Finding a purse and shoes usually results in me sitting on the floor, rummaging through the pile for matches.  Which is what I was doing this morning, when I happened to pick up a purse that sometimes doubles as a tote bag.  It seemed rather heavy, for not being in current use, so I looked inside....and there were my notebooks!! 

I was thrilled, relieved, and excited all at once.  Not just because the notebooks have been found, although I'm certainly glad all the work they represent is not wasted.  I was also glad because finding them has been something of a personal quest for a few weeks, and it felt like a personal triumph.  And because I don't have to spend so much mental energy trying to figure out where I still haven't looked.  There is so much joy in finally finding whatever it was you were looking for.  Whether it's car keys, or a specific DVD you wanted to watch, or that out-of-print book you finally find on Amazon, nothing feels quite as great as 'finally' finding it.

I hope that whatever you have lost today, becomes found.  It's a wonderful, everyday joy.