Lost and Found

My husband is constantly losing or forgetting things.  And I don't mean that this happens occasionally, it's as if he perpetually suffers from a chronic case of early onset Alzheimer's.  So when I got a phone call from him at 5AM this morning, I wasn't the least bit surprised.  He had forgotten his military ID after he was already 45 minutes into his 2 hour drive to Air Force Reserve drill.  Not only had he forgotten it, but he had no idea where he had put it.  The other day he had taken it out of his wallet to go on the nearby Navy base to use the gym.  Thankfully, I found it almost instantly, on top of the TV in our bedroom.

Since this type of thing typically happens several times per week, I've become so accustomed to searching for things that I normally just crack a joke about how I honestly have no idea how he ever made it through life before he had me to help him find his shit.  But at 5 o'clock in the morning, I'm a little less amused by his antics.  Also when, a couple weeks ago, he was frantically searching for his shoe polish and recruited my help while LOST was on (which is really the only time every week when I demand silence and complete avoidance of distractions).  Oh, the cruel irony.

The worst part about that was that I was constantly moving his shoe polishing kit up into his closet.  He had been leaving it behind a bookshelf in our room, and everytime I moved it I nagged that he really needed to keep it up...in case one of the kids finds it and gets into it.  Well, guess who was right?  Men, this is exactly why you must listen to your women. 

He forgets things so often, that I told him that I'm going to have a custom notepad made for him.  You know those pre-printed shopping checklists that you can buy, the ones that have food items that nearly everybody regularly purchases on routine stops at the supermarket...eggs, milk, bread?  Well, I plan on having something similar printed for him, except that every page will have a list of everything he needs to bring with him daily to work.  Radio, gun, cuffs, badge, etc.  I wasn't fully joking.  I am seeing a serious need for this. 

I just don't understand it!  It's not that our home is a mess, or that he's disorganized or irresponsible.  After being in the military for six years, he's developed some nearly OCD habits when it comes to his possessions.  He's always had a little box that he keeps in his closet on the shelf where he puts his small but important things.  But sometimes, he sets things down somewhere without thinking about it...and then, it's either gone forever or at least until I can find it for him.  He's lucky that I'm always pretty good at finding stuff.

It's even a little fun sometimes.  There's nothing like searching for something, and the thrill you get when you finally find it.  It's a little adrenaline rush:  some people need to go skydiving to get their kicks...but for now, I'll just stick to random routine find-the-lost-thing hunts around the house.