Ah, my last post from Richmond has arrived. Let’s all pause for a moment of reflection. Are we good now? Ok – so this final entry is a doozy. It may seem eerily familiar to the entry “I’m With Stupid” from last fall, where I agonized over the loss of my jump drive. Yes, this is definitely along those same lines my friends – history has a way of repeating itself sometimes, much to our distress.
On Sunday afternoon, while Rebecca and I were busily packing up the house, we received a surprise drop in visit from our good friend Beth and her 1 ½ year old son, Jared. We were thrilled to A) see Beth and Jared again and B) have more help packing. We quickly put Beth to work on the kitchen dishes while I returned to the living room to sort through some papers. Jared, plopped down into this new playroom utopia, simply stood quietly in the kitchen, taking it all in and trying to decide what to do first. Then, taking his first steps around our home (he’d been here before, but not since he’s learned how to walk on his own) he went over to the phone table and picked up our car keys and my name tag. Beth then mentioned that he loved her keys and often walked around with them and refused to let go. We were cool with it – go ahead Jared – go crazy little guy. We continued to take turns watching this little blond haired cutey walk around our chaotic house, full of boxes and mess. It was definitely a fine place for him to play and cause trouble as only boys know how to it seems.
After a little while, I noticed that he had dropped the keys and name tag in front of me in the living room. I remember looking at them sitting there on the floor and thinking, “Ok, there are the keys – right in the middle of the floor. I better remember to pick them up…” I then continued to pack stuff up and move into another section of the house. Eventually it was time for our friends to depart – and we hugged them and saw them head out into the rain and drive off down our street for the last time (for me anyway.)
The next morning when it was time to take Rebecca to work, I could not find the car keys. I looked back in the living room where I had last seen them, and lo and behold, they were not there. The name tag had been returned, but the keys were missing. I casually checked the house for the new placement of the keys, but did not see them anywhere in plain view. I grabbed the spare keys and mentioned to Rebecca that I couldn’t find the first set and we were on our way. The way to work was focused on the missing keys. “Where did he put them? Where did we see him playing? Where was the last place we saw them? (I told her about the living room spot) and so on. We were unsettled. We were crabby. We couldn’t believe that now, of all times to lose your keys – in a house now full of possible hiding places – that we were facing this challenge.
I returned home and searched the house. Nothing. No sign or trace. I tried to get inside Jared’s little brain with no success. Jared was turning out to be quite the sneaky hider. I continued on my errands and “honey do” list for the morning. I picked Rebecca up from work for lunch and we searched the house again for an hour. Nothing. We were baffled as to how this little guy could have foiled us so easily. After more looking, I finally put my tail between my legs and called Beth. She laughed and we laughed some more at how Jared had struck yet again. She informed me of his “record.” Apparently, this is not Jared’s first time. No, he has successfully hidden her parents’ DVD Player remote – to which they still cannot find. He has also re-programmed her in-laws’ answering machine, to which they still cannot reset back to the way they had it. Yes, Jared is a trouble maker with quite the success rate. I still remember him standing and surveying our house when he first arrived – silent and smirking – absorbing all that lay before him. I love that kid and wow, I was now respecting him like no other 1 ½ year old. I thought I was a good hider of things – but this kid, he had reset the bar – and it was much higher now.
Day one of searching proved no results, only more unsettled feelings and agonizing “what ifs?” Upon waking this morning, it was on our mind but nothing was said. We resolved to not talking about it in order to hopefully stumble across them “when we weren’t looking for them.” It was the only way to having some shred of peace. After Rebecca left and I sat alone plotting my last day of Richmond out, I made my own resolution: I was going to find those keys. I threw on my head lamp and dropped to my knees and crawled around every inch of this house – determined to find what I so badly wanted. I kept thinking of Jared trotting around the house the other day – of all his moves and everything I saw him doing. I couldn’t help but try to psychoanalyze him like they do on those detective shows. I was trying to get inside his mind and decipher what his moves were. I thought of him pounding the TV screen and shutting the stereo off and turning it back on again. I saw him in every nook and cranny of this house, holding tightly to those keys until something new and exciting caught his attention and – clink – the keys were dropped…somewhere…
Yes, I am determined to not let this hang over me as I leave this fine state. I don’t want Beth to worry that her innocent child had somehow attributed to our lack of peace in our home in our last days in it. No, I am not going to let little Jared out fox this fox – I am going to conquer his challenge and find those keys.
As I looked and looked, I kept muttering in a determined mantra – “I’m going to find the keys.” I couldn’t believe that our keys were gone without a trace. I just could not accept this fact. Peering into boxes, sorting through clothes and blankets, underneath furniture and into bags that had been checked and re-checked a hundred times by both of us – all turned up nothing and then… I found the keys. YES! I found the keys!! Looking into a big bag of gifts bags in the kitchen, flipping through everything in it, there, in the corner of the bag sat the missing keys. I grabbed them and hoisted them high above my head and let out a victorious roar of delight – success at last. I cannot begin to describe the joy of this moment. I am still on an absolute natural high. Before getting side-tracked on my search mission, I was preparing to go for a run. I can now resume my day’s plan – I can go on that run in a new frame of mind. The day is shaping up to be a fine one – this is surely going to be a glorious run – no thoughts of those missing keys now. Praise God indeed.
“Or suppose a (man and woman) has a (set of keys) and loses them. Does he not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until he finds it? And when he finds it, he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost keys!” In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:8-10
Luther Seminary, here I come.
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