Something Lost

Have you ever misplaced something that you knew you surely would find sooner or later, but time goes by and you wonder where in the world it went?

Most of the time, I can immediately put my fingers on just about any thing anyone wants. I have files from when the kids were little. (And, they're grown and married now!) Medical files. Nursing files. Education files. Even files for the plants we bought from Lowes last year!

Well, today I found something that has been “lost’ for over 5 years. It was very important to me. In fact, I had said to myself, “That’s something I’d surely like to find in my lifetime!” It’s not replaceable. It's One-of-a-kind. Uniquely special to me.

It is the original letter my mother wrote to my sister and me when we were in the New York City Orphanage. We discovered it in the old orphanage files 35 years after she wrote it! Now it was lost again, and I just couldn’t believe it wasn’t going to turn up in that file labeled “letter from our mom”. But every time I looked, the file was as empty as the last time I looked!

I asked my sister if she had it. I searched all the files I had created during the years of searching for our mother. I looked again! I pulled out every box and opened every drawer and looked in every file folder! I couldn’t believe I had lost that treasured letter!

Today, I suspected something special was going to happen. There were absolutely too many number 55’s all around me. I woke up at 6:55 a.m. The temperature was 55 degrees. Every time I glanced at the clock, there was a 55 somewhere in the time! At one point, the odometer said 95555 as a car passed me with 55 in the license plate.

“Odd, I mused. Something’s up.” It usually does when that many 55's hit at one time!

So, a few minutes after I got home, I begrudgingly went to work in the garage unpacking studio boxes. Now, these boxes were suppose to have been sorted at least a couple times since our move from Florida. Once when we unloaded and decided what went to the garage and what went to the apartment. Then, when we set up the studio, we sorted again. The boxes waiting for me today had been checked (again) by Jim and set aside for me to sort as more personal items.

I almost put off the project today because I got called to work at the nursing home tomorrow, but I gave myself an hour to get started. Right there on top of the first box I opened was that brown envelope marked on the outside, “Letter from our mother”.

“Ohhh, I found it,” I said as I sank into a chair and almost cried. Inside was not only the faded 53-year old letter from our mother, but also all the legal adoption papers when grandma and grandpa Mascunana adopted us.

Happily, I called my sister! I waved it in Jim's face when he got home. I'm afraid to put it away. It's almost as exciting as the first time I saw it!

Now if I could just find my nursing license and social security card….

Take Care on the Journey
~Linda