Lost And Found

Things disappear. Like socks. How many socks have you lost in the dryer? Someplace there is a sock repository, with all these socks running around trying to find their mate.

When we were thinking about moving, I got a cute cat/moon/crystal ball hanging thingy that lights up at night. I didn’t want to lose it, so I put it away, and of course it was that place you know you’re going to look, so you’ll never lose it, right?

Uh HUH.

We didn’t move. I started looking for the cute cat/moon/crystal ball hanging thingy. 

Could I find it? 

Uh UH.

Every time I thought about it, I’d look for it, to no avail.

Then one day, when I was cleaning up some space in my office, in a cabinet that I had opened at least 50 times before, I found it. 

The cute cat/moon/crystal ball hanging thingy (on a stand)

I wasn’t looking for it. I’m not kidding, I probably “saw” it more times than I want to admit, but didn’t put together that THAT box was the one with the cute cat/moon/crystal ball hanging thingy in it.

It only took me a year to find it, and it was when I was least invested in finding it. I figured it would turn up someday, kind of like those socks, and I let the whole thing go. It appeared not long after.

So now it’s hanging outside, and at night it lights up. It’s cute. It’s got a cat. What’s not to like about this?

Double cute at night

The moral of this story is - if something gets lost, it got lost for a reason - maybe it needed an adventure. Maybe it didn’t want to be outside in the middle of winter. Maybe it was trying to teach me about how faulty memory is, how we all sort of invent our own memories of a situation. Maybe I just wasn’t ready to find it. 

This can be applied to our animal friends. Sometimes they get lost. They disappear out of our lives. We are upset and devastated, and obsessed with them being back in our house, safe and sound. I’m not saying don’t look, because that could be part of the process. What I AM saying is sometimes it’s better to obsess less. Look, yes. Also ask yourself the question, “what can I learn from this?” 

At some point the animal will either come back, or it won’t. I’ve had it happen both ways. Many years ago my cat Harvey escaped from a hotel room and had a grand adventure circling the building under the bushes. When she was ready to be found, I found her.

Morpheus and Tolstoy in a rare moment of cameraderie

Our cat Morpheus was a former barn cat and knew how to be outside. He went out frequently. Our property is pretty cat proof in terms of them leaving. A motivated cat can escape, but it’s not easy, and requires jumping and squeezing through a small hole in the front gate. One day Morpheus went outside, and never came back. He was an awesome cat, and we missed him every day, but he was motivated to move on. Maybe it was because he and his brother Tolstoy  didn’t get along. I also believe he never thought of himself as a house cat. His actual litter-mate Lynkx took to the comforts of a warm house immediately, but Morpheus always had a faraway look in his eyes. He was in the house because it made us happy, but in his soul he was a wild black panther, and he finally listened to that call.

If it’s lost, and wants to be found, you will find it. Always know that whatever is happening is for the highest and best good of all involved. That includes you. Even though we may not like the outcome.