Of Missing Keys and Brain Cells

We lost a key yesterday. Or was it my memory that went?

I hate to be the one to lose a house key. At our house, it's a serious deal. First it involves an all-out search for the missing item. If that brings no results, the possibility of having to replace every lock in the house looms large. So, you may imagine my feelings when a certain one of our house keys went AWOL...and, as far as anyone remembered, I was the last one to use it.

The problem was, what we remembered didn't include much. I had taken a rest. Upon getting up, I decided that a walk was in order. That much we knew for sure. I remembered having to unlock one door...or was it two? And I must have used that particular key, though I really didn't remember much. I hardly remembered that. But nobody had used the key since then, and it wasn't on its nail at the top of the door. My sisters joined the search:

"Is it in your coat pockets?"

I looked. (They did too.) "No."

"Maybe it fell out of this hole".

Hole? In my pocket? Uh-oh... I did some rapid research.

"That's not a hole." Sigh of relief.

(Later, remembering:) "I didn't even wear that coat. I'm almost sure of it. It was warm out."

I checked my skirt pockets. Nothing. Not on the counter, not on the set of hooks in the pantry, not in the sunroom. I tried hard to think back: where had I been just after I'd unlocked those doors? I looked in the garage. Not there. I knew I'd rested in the hammock for a few minutes after coming back. Perhaps it had fallen out then? Dad, Anna and a flashlight went out looking. Still nothing. "But we'll want to look again in daylight", Dad said. We prayed about it and headed for bed.

This morning, I kept thinking about the ill-fated key, trying to remember. What did I do with it? Did I even use it? Maybe I wasn't the last one to use it--maybe I had used the other key. The problem was, I just couldn't remember... Lord, can you help me remember what I did with that key? I took my walk and checked the hammock before coming back in. No silver sparkling object there. Or under it, or in the grass by the side, though I did find a pen. I gave up the search and went in to find some breakfast.

Apples with peanut butter sounded good...and besides, there wasn't any cereal in the house. No apples in the kitchen refrigerator, so I headed out to the garage fridge. I knew there were some out there. Opened the door, bent over to look...and that silver key sparkled up at me from one of the middle shelves. The missing key? In the fridge? Umm... Oh yes. I guess I was the last one to use it. I had grabbed something to eat before walking the previous day and I must have traded the key for the brownie... Losing a key in the refrigerator. That's rather embarrassing. I could hardly stop laughing, though, as I went to tell my mom. She looked at me funny: "You found it where?" Or, as Dad said, "That's something to tell your grandchildren."